#Illegal Houses Demolishing

[nando161mando]

"Houses built on government land by 11 persons were demolished in tribal-dominated Mandla in Madhya Pradesh as part of action against the illegal beef trade in the state, a police official said on Saturday."

[gkingmusik]

Houses Demolished In Eti-Osa As Lagos Gov’t Cracks Down On Illegal Structures

The Lagos State Government’s enforcement of building regulations has led to the demolition of several houses in the Eti-Osa area. The demolition, carried out by the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), is part of a wider effort to sanitize the built environment and ensure compliance with safety standards. Reports from the scene in Eti-Osa reveal a significant number of houses being…

[27moremoons]

The Cradle

Israeli police demolish a mosque in the 'unrecognized' Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev (al-Naqab) to make way for an Orthodox Jewish community.

According to a 2015 Israeli High Court of Justice ruling, the Bedouins in the village had been "illegally squatting" on land that belongs to Israel.

Israeli media claims the residents of the Bedouin community demolished their own homes and left, and that the mosque was one of the only structures remaining.

The Times of Israel writes, "The 37 unrecognized villages in the Negev house some 150,000 people, or roughly a third of Israel’s Bedouin population, according to the Council. Israel decided in the 1990s to raze some of the illegally built villages and build authorized communities in their stead."

Fanatic National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praises the demolitions, boasting that he has overseen a 400% rise in demolitions in the Negev since the beginning of 2024.

Indigenous Palestinian Bedouins have always lived in the Negev desert. Just like the Colonizers in so called “United States” and “Canada” they came to the lands and decided what is law through genocide, ethnic cleansing, and white supremacist “western values”. To the colonizer it does not matter that the Indigenous peoples have lived on the land for centuries.

As a Palestinian Bedouin close to my heart, whose family was ethnically cleansed from Beersheba, once said “the land is ours, we will go home, you’ll see, you’ll see”

[fictionalwh0ree]

the gang dating a stoner hcs

warnings: mentions weed and alcohol

a/n: as someone who's a lowkey stoner, i wrote this with the reader being someone who doesn't look like they'd be a stoner.

johnny cade

definitely doesn’t mind that you smoke

he’s maybe tried it once but never enough that he felt anything

one day he tries it with you

he immediately understands why you do it

johnny has a lot of issues and has a lot of baggage, smoking weed helps him calm down

you’re happy that it makes him happy

but that can also be dangerous

you worry about him getting hooked to the feeling, so you make sure he only ever does it with you

thankfully its illegal and since johnny is kind of skittish, he doesn’t go after it on his own

smoking with him is a mix of calm and paranoia

hes paranoid while you’re smoking

worrying about the smell, who’s around, your eyes, etc

but once its done, he’s calm

you spend many late nights just dozing off in each others arms after smoking

also many deep talks

overall, he’s grateful for you (and it) and he accepts your habits

dallas winston

he LOVES that you’re lowkey a stoner

there’s something about how you look when your eyes are all droopy and red that turns him onnnnn

(he also finds you being able to roll hot, idk why)

he definitely does it here and there

but he loves to smoke with you

on a rare night, you two will get crossed at bucks and will probably end up fucking

high sex is his favvvvv

he’ll take you to the drive-in after you smoke

those are probably the only times you’ll pay attention to a movie around him

he’s very rebellious so he doesn’t worry about you getting caught very often

he’ll even steal snacks for you

he lets you crash in his bed if you’re super slumped

you love cuddling with him if you’re high

something about the warmth and skin to skin just feels so much better

he definitely finds it funny when you’re high

he’ll laugh about you demolishing your food

he definitely laughs when you start sharing your high thoughts with him

and he finds it especially funny when you find something funny and can’t stop laughing

you’ve definitely been caught in some dumb ass situations where you look at each other and have to find a way to hold in the laughter

ponyboy curtis

definitely has never smoked

he knows its illegal, so he was definitely surprised to find out you do it

at first, you kept it separate from him

you know his brother would kill him if he tried

you didn’t smoke around him and were never really high around him

until one time you were headed home after a smoke session with your friends and you ran into him

he invited you to the drive- in with the gang

steve and dally could definitely tell

ponyboy could tell something was off but couldn’t pinpoint it

he bought you a popcorn and you couldn’t shut up about how much better it tasted

“has this popcorn always been this good?”

“it doesn’t taste any different than the last time we had it”

“are you sure?”

“are you okay”

dally definitely broke the news to him and it hit him quick

after that, pony started asking you questions about weed

“what does it feel like to be high?”

“does food actually taste better?”

“does it taste like a cigarette?”

you asked him if he wanted to try it one day so you waited until a day where his house was completely empty and smoked

after one hit, he was coughing like crazy

no amount of cigarettes could’ve prepared him for that

he couldn’t smoke very much because of the coughing but he got high and finally understood the food thing

tore apart any food available

he really loves to watch the sunset when he’s high

he thinks the colours and scenery are so much more detailed and pretty

he’s the type to turn into a poet when he’s high

but in the end the coughing was not worth it so he only does it very rarely (and only with you)

its a very special occasion when pony smokes, so you always make sure its a good experience and you do everything so darry will never find out

sodapop curtis

he’s definitely tried it before

he was not a fan

(he wasn’t inhaling it right so he never felt it and thought it was pointless)

he was very surprised when he found out you smoked

he always makes sure you’re careful with it

he takes extra care of you when you’re high

he makes sure you don’t have to talk to anyone

will take you to go get whatever you’re craving

he’s also a fan of the high eyes

he thinks its cute when you laugh at dumb things you wouldn’t usually find that funny

he’s very observant so he can definitely tell when you’re high and even if you’ve smoked at all

you taught him how to inhale

unfortunately he’s a bit of a paranoid high person so you don’t smoke with him

he always feels his senses heightened

this boy will hear a cop car coming from five blocks away and then panic as if you’re not sitting inside his house

however he is the type to EAT when he’s high

he’s like a bottomless pit

but hes also sodapop curtis so he’ll stay skinny anyway

darry curtis

darry definitely tried weed in high school

i mean he was on the football team

but he’s not a fan

too much risk not enough reward

so when it comes to dating a stoner

he’d probably rather not

but if he is

you just have to keep it separate

you don’t smoke around him and you’re never really high around him

he doesn’t mind the habit as long as you don’t let it affect your ambition

darry is a workaholic, he looks for a partner with drive

so as long as you smoking weed isn’t interfering with your job its fine

he would never date someone who is always high

he’s okay with it if its more of a couple days a week type thing

once you’ve been dating a while, he makes it clear that you can smoke and be high around him

because he’d rather you do it around him then alone or out on the streets

he thinks its cute when you’re high

he likes how you’re giggly

he’ll cook for you

and he likes how affectionate you get

he smoked with you ONCE

he, like sodapop, is the type to eat like there’s no tomorrow

after it was done, the entire gang unexpectedly showed up at his house

they could tell

darry’s eyes were practically bloodshot red

ponyboy took advantage of calm darry and got to stay out late

“get him high more often y/n”

they tried to keep their laughs to themselves but it didn’t work

two-bit especially could not contain himself around darry and couldn’t look at him without laughing

you definitely fucked after and the high sex was almost enough to get him to smoke again

but he could never EVER let the gang see him like that again

he only got high with you again after you learnt how to make edibles

two-bit matthews

two-bit loves that you smoked

funniest couple ever

you love smoking with and around him because he makes you laugh so hard

funny sober = super funny high

you two will laugh until you’re clutching your stomachs in pain

he’ll finish a whole chocolate cake high

two-bit is not a sit down and relax type of high person

there’s two potential reasons

a) he’s just like that

b) he’s always a little drunk so he just ends up slightly crossed

he’s super social and bounces off the walls

so sometimes you have to let him just go out with his friends

once he comes down from it all he’s super tired

you guys WILL take naps together

you’ll sleep from 11am-4pm

or you’ll go to bed at 2am and wake up at 1pm

it all depends but the two of you are heavy ass sleepers after smoking

the house could’ve blown up and neither of you would notice

steve randle

he has also tried smoking before, but never too much

he had basically forgotten it existed until you

he doesn’t like it when you smoke alone so if you’re not with friends, sometimes he’ll smoke with you

it actually helps him focus a lot

if he can work on a car high, he will

it becomes the only thing that matters

gets you dx discounts on snacks

he’s pretty quiet high so the two of you will often spend your time watching a move with his arm around your shoulder

he’s lowkey strict with it because he doesn’t want you to get caught

so he doesn’t let you smoke in very public places or in broad daylight unless you’re somewhere safe

doesn’t let you meet your dealer alone

he’s protective of you when you’re high because he thinks it makes you a bit more vulnerable

he’ll do all the talking

he doesn’t like people who spend their entire day high

he’s okay with it as long as you’re not a bum because of it

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

🎨: jessamybooks

i got tagged in this, presumably because the person wanted me to debunk it so here we go. (warning long post mostly because of the pictures, putting a break so as to not clog up y’all’s dashes)

the ic’s help for nesta was giving her an ultimatum of going to the house of wind or deportation to the human lands.

mind you, the former is also an isolation with a man she has verbally and physically made clear she wants away from her

“it’s not up for negotiation” again, the ruling power is forcing a war refugee to “choose” between being stuck in a house that would be gruesome to escape from, primarily with a man she wants to be away from and secondarily with another man who’s just as culpable in her imprisonment, and deportation to lands where they know she will be ostracized, subjected to prejudice, friendless, and practically housebound.

furthermore, amren lied about the rules of the night court when nesta rightfully brought up the fact that they were legally not allowed to do this. for all stans like to claim this was just like judge-appointed rehab, within that same modern context, lying about the law to force someone into “rehab” (mind you, through an intervention that had not a single medical professional involved), IS A CRIME

in contrast, nesta’s help for the women in the library was… pinning up a sign-up sheet.

yes, she intentionally practiced in the library, even after clotho asked her not to because it was distracting the priestesses who watched her

however, that was part of her plan to bring cassian down so the priestess could safely see how he trained her given their past terrible experiences with men.

also, there are seven whole chapters between when she puts the sheet up and when gwyn signs up. seven.

and then an additional five chapters when roslin, ananke, and deirdre show up in chapter 29.

ilana and lorelei join in chapter 38.

also note, nesta was going to give up and take down the sheet after her demonstration with cassian because it was her last resort. she still hadn’t physically bothered any of the priestesses, or initiated any unwanted contact.

additionally, clotho, herself, was happy when gwyn signed up.

so let’s review

the ic: forced nesta out of her safe space and demolished it, gave her a hosbon’s choice of training or deportation, and lied to her about their laws to bypass the illegality of their ultimatum

nesta: pinned up a sign-up sheet (which is by definition is voluntary), never physically bothered any of the priestesses or pestered them into signing up, and found a way to assuage any fears about a man training them without directly putting them in his way.

there is also a difference in time. the ic gave nesta no time to make her “decision.” she was forced into beginning her training the same day she got the ultimatum. in contrast, the time between when nesta put up the sheet, and when all the known valkyries from the library left the library to train is 21 chapters.

overall, i genuinely don’t think that anyone making this argument actually believes it, because it’s such a gross intentional misunderstanding of how the neo-valkyries came together, and stripping gwyn, roslin, deirdre, ananke, ilana, and lorelei of their personal choice to leave the library.

anyways, byeee

[quirkwizard]

There isn't any real reasoning for why I made this. Maybe because I already did something like this with 1-A? I just thought it'd be a fun scenario to imagine where these characters would be if they had real jobs. Instead of ending up in various levels of dead or damaged. I will ignore characters that I think are simply too evil to have any real chances, like Moonfish, or others I just don't think are interesting, like Mange. That and most MLA because they already have real jobs. Them being redeemed would just be them going back to work with ankle bracelets on.

Mustard-Fumigator: If his gas can knock out and poison people that quickly, I imagine that it can kill bugs just as well. And if he comes across any particularly bad bugs, he always has his gun.

Giran-Salesman: I mean, it'd be basically be what he was doing before. Now instead of seeing illegal weaponry, he'll be selling used cars so expensive it should be illegal.

Spinner-Streamer: He can still play games and not leave his house, but now he will hopefully have a more healthy outlet for everything he is going through. He doesn't even need a VTuber set up. He is the goofy model.

Tomura-Waste Management: This allows Tomura to let out his destructive tendencies and can help get rid of a lot of debris and trash that is just laying around. Now instead of leaving a destroy wasted, he can clean up the destroyed waste.

Mr. Compress-Street Mage: Probably the most obvious pick out of everyone on this list. Between his power, his gimmick, and his natural showmanship, it all fits right into this kind of job. He doesn't even need to change his outfit to make it work.

Muscular-Coach: Since he can't be trust in any fighting based sport. I'm not sure if this would be as a gym coach or personal couch, but either way, he is going to take all that sadisms and ideas of conflict and channeling that aggression for other people's benefit.

Kurogiri-Travel Agent: As much as hero may be on the table, I think there would be some optics issues with that. Still he could send people where ever they want to go on vacation with a fraction of the rates. Just as long as they give a way to send them back home.

Dabi-Lead Singer: Specifically something in the metal or rock genre. He's got that perfect mix of voice, look, and angst to fit right into that kind of culture. And considering how many songs are written for people who don't like their dads, he'd have plenty of material for songs.

Toga-Photographer: Toga was the hardest out of all of them. I just went with something that could express herself more healthy, maybe even being a crime scene photographer, and being in a job where stalking someone is considered worthwhile experience for the job.

Twice-Odd Jobs: As much as I want to say tailor for his sick measuring skills, he doesn't really have any definable skills. So having him be around and help people with his dozens of clones seems fitting. That and there is so much comedic potential in them doing odd jobs week to week.

Gigantomachia-Tourist Barge: Instead of demolishing cities, Gigantomachia can use his tough body to show people around normally hazardous areas like oceans or mountains. He can even use the cheers of the people he's carrying as encouragement to boost his power.

Geten-Ice Cream Man: I prefer to think that Geten's abilities would cover ice cream as well. As such, it is only a natural conclusion that he would become an ice cream man. And knowing him, he will fight and train to be the best ice cream man on the planet.

Kuin-Beekeeper: Considering how bad of a spot bees are in, Kuin could do a real service to the community be helping to spread out pollen with her power. And hey, leading a bunch of bees would come naturally to her as a living insect.

Number 6-Motivation Speaker: Forget the amount of social manipulation he did in his own story, I say this job fits because of the amount of spite Number 6 has. It's that spite that allowed him to get going and fulfil his dreams. Now that's inspiring.

Overhaul-Doctor: I've already gone over how useful "Overhaul" would be in medical work and he already has plenty of experience with medicine. Heck, we can even have the other yakuza guys around as nurses and other kinds of assistants. Beside manner may need work.

Stain-Bounty Hunter: I wanted Stain to end up somewhere where he could technically good, like a detective, but a bounty hunter fits way more within his skill set. Plus, there is a lot of comedy potential. Imagine a poster him in the bond office say "Pay your bond or else!"

Gentle and La Brava-Social Media Stars: Basically what they were doing before. Now with hopefully less crime in between videos. Gentle could even spin his whole redemption for more views, telling his sad story in prison and his time trying to rehabilitate himself. Take that as genuinely or facetiously as you want.

[skepticdoe]

POLL TIME!!

you are LEGALLY required to answer before I send a giant bowling ball cartman to demolish your house <3

[fingolfinwiththesteelchair]

Mightiest Elf Fight Club - ROUND 6

Feanor and Finrod are out!

We are down to the final four, the final stretch, so ONE elf is being eliminated, choose wisely! Select the elf in this group that you think would come in LAST, I repeat, vote for the elf in LAST PLACE. The elf you vote for will be ELIMINATED from fight club.

No holds barred in this fight! Magic and steel and arrow and song, nothing is illegal!

The rankings so far

10th place: Mablung

9th place: Luthien

8th place: Ecthelion

7th place: Gil-Galad

6th place: Finrod

5th place: Feanor

Mighty deeds below the cut

Glorfindel: One of the few beings to successfully slay a Balrog, Glorfindel won the fight, and died due to an illegal move from the opposition (hair pulling isn't allowed in any sports except the bedroom (don't fact check that, I didn't)). Glorfindel died and came back to life (he did it before Gandalf made it cool). He spent his time in The Fellowship of the Ring gleefully chasing the ringwraiths to the tune of yakety-sax as the ringwraiths frantically fled him whenever they heard his jingling steed. He's singlehandedly the reason Frodo didn't get ringwraithed, and the wraiths were so scared of him that between the choice of Glorfindel and a magically-pissed off river, they chose the river. Weaknesses: needs a haircut

Maedhros: Maedhros has fought in countless battles against Morgoth, including orchestrating the Union of Maedhros. He's known for his ferocity with the sword. He held the fort of Himring against the tides of Morgoth's forces for nearly all of the First Age. He's widely known for his ability to kill the hardiest race in middle earth (other elves). Everyone wants him carnally. Weaknesses: Silmarils, oaths.

Fingolfin: A High King of the Ñoldor, Fingolfin braved the Helcaraxë, fought in the Battle of Sudden Flame, and then rode out alone to Actually-demigod-Satan's house, knocked on his door, and told him to come out and fight him one on one. And then he almost killed Actually-demigod-Satan, dealing seven devastating blows that would never heal, and demolishing what little scraps of pride Morgoth had left. Then he went home to reunite with his hot wife. DILF. Weaknesses: Hammers

Fingon: He walked into Morgoth's domain, rescued Maedhros, and then flew right back out with an injured Maedhros, leaving Morgoth wondering what the hell happened to the elf had chained to a rock for thirty years. Fingon fought in many battles against the forces of Morgoth. When Morgoth sent Orcs to attack Hithlum, Fingon beat the tar out of them so thoroughly that Morgoth invented dragons. Weaknesses: Gothmog

[mohabbaat]

i have got 5 anons in my inbox talking about how the people in ayodhya were encroaching on government land and so the government had every right to throw them out and use that land for the temple. and like do y'all really think encroaching and living illegally on government land is anyone's first choice??? do y'all really believe that the best way to go about this is to demolish their houses and make them homeless??? to take their livelihoods and push them further into poverty??? because if yes, then i am sorry but there's nothing that can be done.

[girlactionfigure]

🇮🇱 BEFORE SUKKOT - Updates from Israel  

✡️✡️ NOTE  - in observance of the holiday of SUCCOT, this group WILL NOT POST NEWS for the next 26 hours.  We will only post in an emergency situation.

✡️ Tonight is SUKKOT.. Sukkot celebrates the gathering of the harvest and commemorates the miraculous protection G‑d provided for the children of Israel when they left Egypt. We celebrate Sukkot by dwelling in a foliage-covered booth (known as a sukkah) and by taking the “Four Kinds” (arba minim), four special species of vegetation.   https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4784/jewish/What-Is-Sukkot.htm

CHAG SAMAYACH - happy Succot!

📌HOME FRONT COMMAND NOTICE.. Staying in the Sukkah during the holiday? The sukkah is not a protected space (from rockets)! If a warning is received, leave the sukkah and enter a protected space in a nearby building.  It is important to leave the access to the protected space LIT and clear of obstacles, so that it can reached it in a calm and safe manner. 

♦️IDF DEMOLISHES.. Hezbollah’s southern Lebanon command post, destroyed with dozens of tons of explosives.

♦️IDF ATTACKS.. dozens of targets of the Hezbollah in the Nebatia region by air, and by sea the IDF navy has attacked launchers, military buildings and ammunition depots of Hezbollah.  In Nebatia, per enemy reports, one of the targets of the IDF was the city hall.

♦️An IDF soldier in Lebanon: the houses are deserted, the intelligence knows exactly where every weapon and every launcher is.

🔹LEBANON PM.. Najib Mikati, Prime Minister of Lebanon, asked Hezbollah to leave southern Lebanon and hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army.

🔹British Prime Minister: considering imposing personal sanctions on (Finance Minster) Smotrich and (National Security Minister) Ben Gvir "due to despicable statements”.  Minister Smotrich responds: “The British mandate has ended and with it the White Paper, but the one-sidedness and hypocrisy remain the same one-sidedness and hypocrisy.”

🔹German Chancellor: "We will continue to send weapons to Israel, Iran is playing with fire”.

▪️SOCIETAL POLITICS.. Attorney General: “The government is not allowed to subsidize day care centers for yeshiva students who must be drafted.”

▪️NO THANK YOU.. A passenger from the USA was caught in Israel with a large amount of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms in his luggage.  Caught, being interrogated, to be deported.  Do not bring marijuana or associated products to Israel, they are illegal here.  (Though this was not a personal quantity, this was bulk smuggling.)

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

It was a rough day in the Supreme Court for anyone who cares about transgender kids, women, men, or people. In short, the reactionary justices on the Court seem poised to create an exception that will allow discrimination based on sex in cases involving healthcare. The rationale of the justices seemed to be that “healthcare is complicated” and “best left to the discretion of part-time legislators” in GOP-controlled states that have a lock on power through political and racial gerrymandering.

Before reviewing the specifics, let’s talk about the solution—and the missed opportunity. During the first two years of the Biden administration, Democrats could have expanded the Supreme Court to override the death grip of the reactionary majority. Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency from 2021 to 2023. Expanding the Court required only the passage of bill by a majority vote in both chambers of Congress (and creating a carve-out in the filibuster, which requires only a majority vote).

But calls to expand the Court were met with disbelief and horror. Opponents warned that expanding the Court would “undermine its legitimacy.” That quaint notion was demolished by rulings in cases like Dobbs (overruling Roe v Wade), Trump v. US (fabricating presidential immunity out of whole cloth), Bruen (concealed carry of handguns in public is a universal right), Bremerton (okay for football coach to lead public school athletes in prayer at midfield after games), Cargill (a bump-stock rifle that can fire 13 rounds per second is not a “machine gun”), and Snyder (bribes given as “thank you gifts” are not illegal). (List is not complete; feel free to add others in the Comment section.)

During the two-year period when Democrats had a trifecta in Washington, they suffered from a lack of imagination. They could not imagine that the Court would take a wrecking ball to the US Constitution and the rules of judicial interpretation and restraint. Lesson learned.

Democrats will regain a trifecta. When they do, we must not waste a moment worrying about the “legitimacy of the Court.” Like Elvis, it has left the building, and it isn’t coming back. We must never again allow a lack of imagination about the depravity of the Republican Party to detain us.

Sadly, the religious and cultural biases of the reactionary majority were again on display during arguments in US v. Skrmetti. The facts are straightforward: Tennessee has outlawed the use of certain medications for use by transgender youth. The law plainly discriminates on the basis of sex because those same medications can be used by other minors who are not seeking to transition or affirm their gender. See generally Ian Millhiser in Vox, The horrifying implications of today’s Supreme Court argument on trans rights, in US v. Skrmetti.

Under existing precedent, laws that discriminate based on gender are subjected to a higher degree of judicial scrutiny to determine if they violate the Equal Protection Clause. Under settled law, the Tennessee ban should be subjected to heightened scrutiny. But the reactionary justices seem intent on allowing the Tennessee ban to escape heightened scrutiny (and thereby remain on the books). Accordingly, four justices seemed willing to create an exception to the heightened standard for cases arising in the “medical context.”

What could go wrong? I mean, it’s not like the reactionary justices are relying on the views of witch-burning judge from 17th-century England (as they did in Dobbs). In fact, the reactionary justices seemed inclined to follow selected European laws dealing with transgender youth rather than the US Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court.

As explained by Ian Millhiser, Justice Roberts led the charge in suggesting that there should be a “carve out” to the heightened scrutiny standard of review for sex discrimination in the medical context:

If the Court adopts Roberts’s approach, which seems likely, that’s not just a devastating blow to transgender youth and their families. It’s also a sea change in the Court’s approach to sex discrimination of all kinds. Again, [previous cases] held that “all” laws that draw lines based on sex must survive heightened scrutiny, even though some laws ultimately clear this hurdle. “All” means all. But now many of the justices seem eager to hold that only some laws that classify people based on sex are presumptively unconstitutional.

The Republican attempt to legalize discrimination against trans people begins with its assault on the equal protection of trans youth. Again, as Millhiser notes,

It’s hard to divorce this case from its political context. During his recently victorious presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump went all in on anti-trans rhetoric — spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars on ads that, in the Washington Post’s words, “paint trans people as a menace to society.”

Republicans are discriminating against transgender youth because they can and because it is a wedge issue that will lead to additional areas of sex discrimination. Such discrimination is one of the last bastions of “acceptable” discrimination in America. The reactionary justices are poised to “aid and abet” in that discrimination by refusing to subject it to the heightened scrutiny that is applied to all other forms of sex discrimination.

As with reproductive liberty, the reactionary justices will wrap their complicity in the claim that they are “sending the issue back to the peoples’ representative.” But other constitutional rights do not blink in and out of existence depending on a person’s residence. That is precisely why we have a federal constitution—to ensure that there is a supreme law of the land not subject to the vagaries of state legislators who choose their voters (through gerrymandering) rather than being chosen by voters.

It was a tough day. We must never again suffer from a lack of imagination. And that lesson should be applied to every situation where Democrats have an advantage—no matter how transitory or narrow.

Recognizing the Democratic achievement in the House

The Supreme Court has blessed the use of political gerrymandering to make it nearly impossible to dislodge incumbents. Republicans have pushed gerrymandering to the extreme, thereby bestowing on themselves a “built in” unfair advantage in the House arising from red-state gerrymandered districts. See David Daley in Salon, How Republicans held the House: It's the gerrymander, stupid.

Per Daley,

Republicans’ margin of victory [in the US House] was just three seats, and their working majority as the next term begins will be almost nonexistent.

As it happens, three seats is exactly the number that Republicans engineered in their favor this cycle in North Carolina, as the result of an extreme gerrymander gifted to them by that state’s Republican-controlled Supreme Court.

The fact that Democrats clawed their way to 215 seats is an achievement to be celebrated—not the badge of shame portrayed by many commentators. Readers forward articles to me daily that explain “what Democrats did wrong” or “why Democrats lost.” Nearly 100% of those articles adopt the “just so” story that Democrats lost because they stopped listening to the working class (a falsehood so egregious I will not repeat the obvious response, but instead direct critics to any and every campaign speech delivered by Kamala Harris).

One grassroots organization sent a newsletter that said that Democrats “must have made mistakes” because “we lost.” As framed, that syllogism is false. Democrats could have (and did) run a sound campaign but lost, nonetheless. See, e.g., gerrymandering in the House, described above.

I am not saying that Democrats are perfect or can’t improve or are blameless in the 2024 losses. But the handwringing and gnashing of teeth by Democratic political commentators are out of control. Predictably, every “what went wrong” article miraculously validates the author’s worldview and prior (successful) campaign experience (usually on the Obama campaign).

With apologies for that detour, let’s get back to my thesis: Democrats have every reason to be proud of their accomplishment in increasing their representation in the House in the 119th Congress, which starts on January 6, 2025. The Democratic success in the 2024 election has saddled Speaker Mike Johnson with the smallest House majority in history.

Let me repeat: “The smallest House majority in history.”

See NYTimes, Mike Johnson’s Newest Headache: The Smallest House Majority in History. (This article is accessible to all.)

Despite being in the minority in the House, Democrats are in a strong position. I recommend reading the NYTimes article above to understand the details of the Republican majority’s predicament, but here is one example:

The relief from the budget ceiling negotiated by President Biden expires in January 2025. Republicans want to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts as their first order of business in January 2025—a move that will raise the debt unless Republicans create new sources of revenue (i.e., “raise taxes”) or slash spending. Cutting spending is easy to talk about but hard to do when your ox is being gored by cuts to services or projects important to your constituents.

It seems unlikely that Republicans will be able to pass any spending bills without Democratic support. That outcome is a direct result of the countless hours and tireless work of Democratic grassroots volunteers.

No one will thank you or even think of you when the bigwigs are negotiating in the halls of the Capitol or sitting uncomfortably on the awkward couches in the Oval Office. Still, you are the reason Democrats will have a seat at the table. Every vote cast, every ballot cured, every door knocked, every postcard sent, and every phone call made is directly responsible for Democratic power in the 119th Congress.

So, rather than blaming “Democrats” for their imagined arrogance or manufactured “mistakes,” we should thank them for standing up to Trump and MAGA extremism. We still have a dog in the fight and a seat at the table because of you.

Since precious few other commentators are saying what should be said, I will say it:

Thank you for a job well done.

Democrats who volunteered their time and donated their resources are true heroes of democracy. Your nation will forever be in your debt for a job well done. And your reward is that you get to do it all over again, starting yesterday.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]