pacino wrote:point #1 in the article noted that republicans mostly drew the democratic-leaning districts. they mentioned it, just not how you wanted them to

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pacino wrote:so what's your point? these districts are still gerrymandered

we all know you think gerrymandering is overblown and a good thing

What’s good representation? Here are some answers that people regularly defend:

Good representation happens when representatives are beholden to specific geographical communities, who are believed to have common interests. This is a reason to draw districts that correspond to existing cities, towns, and the like.

Good representation happens when the largest possible majority of people get to elect the representative of their choice. This is a reason to draw lopsided districts with large partisan majorities.

Good representation happens when groups who have been historically excluded from the electoral process — like racial and ethnic minorities — get to elect the representative of their choices. This is a reason to draw majority-minority districts (like the snakey NC-12, the subject of Shaw v. Reno and subsequent Court cases).

Good representation happens when a district is politically competitive, which means representatives work harder to represent “the people” because there is always a good chance they could be thrown out of office. This is a reason to draw districts with a partisan balance close to 50-50.

Those are just a few theories. There are others, long debated by philosophers and political theorists. The point is, drawing pretty districts doesn’t necessarily accomplish any of these things. In Jon Bernstein’s words, the shapes of districts “tell us exactly zilch about whether it’s a good or bad districting job.”

jerseyhoya wrote:

pacino wrote:so what's your point? these districts are still gerrymandered

we all know you think gerrymandering is overblown and a good thing

My point is it is weird to write a piece about the most gerrymandered districts without mentioning this common factor that seven of the ten have with each other.

Texas's 33rd Congressional District, one of the ten most gerrymandered districts in the country, was drawn to be majority minority only after federal courts found the Texas redistrict map was illegal due to it not including enough majority Hispanic districts. DOJ and the courts require states to draw these districts. They often end up looking bizarre because it can be challenging to piece together 50+% minority seats, hence 7 of the 10 most gerrymandered districts according to that guy's calculation are majority minority.

I do think complaints about gerrymandering are overblown, and it is neither a good thing or a bad thing, just a thing.

Turkish police detained 24 people, including executives of the mining company Soma Holding, on Sunday as part of an investigation into the worst mining disaster in the country's history.

Local media reported that Ramazan Dogru, the general manager of the mine, and its operations manager, Akin Celik, were among those being held on suspicion of "neglect and causing multiple deaths" after Tuesday's explosion, which killed more than 300 people.

Rescue efforts were called off on Saturday after the last two bodies of trapped miners were retrieved from the rubble.

"Nineteen people have been detained as suspects. The interrogation of five of the suspects is ongoing," Abdurrahman Savas, governor of Manisa province, said.

On Sunday Turkish prosecutors said that three of those arrested are facing a charge of causing multiple deaths.

The arrests seems to signal a shift in relations between the mining company and the government. After the accident, questions were asked about mine owner Alp Gürkan's political connections. His wife is said to be a local councillor for the governing party and his company leases several publicly owned coal mines.

Soma has denied all accusations of negligence, with Gürkan insisting the mine was "a first-class workplace". Speaking on Friday at the first press conference since the accident, Gürkan claimed his company had invested a lot of money to ensure the safety of workers. "We have spent our income to improve working conditions to avoid possible accidents," he said.

The 19-year-old is accused of making and selling pot brownies.

He’s charged with a first degree felony.

The charge is so severe because the recipe includes hash oil.

That allows the state to use the sugar, cocoa, butter and other ingredients to determine the weight of the drugs.

“They’ve weighed baked goods in this case. It ought to be a misdemeanor,” Holmes said.