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Mark Joseph Stern
@mjs_DC
, 9 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
A spokesman for North Carolina Senate Republicans has asked me to delete this tweet and issue a correction. I will list his objections and respond to them in turn.
1. He claims that Alexander tried to redraw the district for the benign reasons provided in this article. I'll let you decide whether it's a coincidence that the result would've removed Democratic communities from his district. I cannot know his heart.
newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
2. He claims that "legislators are forbidden to use partisan data for districts."

True. However, the law firm representing Republican legislators in this litigation sent partisan data to the legislature, anyway. pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/09/09/bre…
3. He states that the "Senate map was passed nearly unanimously out of committee (one Democrat voted in opposition)."

True. However, Republican legislators lead the remedial mapmaking process from the very beginning and overrode Democratic objections along the way.
4. He states that Sen. Alexander informed Republican leadership of his intent to retire in July. I obviously cannot confirm this fact. Regardless, I only wrote that Alexander publicly announced that his retirement last week—which is indisputably true. newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
Please draw your own conclusions about my initial tweet in light of these notes.
PS Sen. Alexander says he is retiring "to spend more time with his grandchildren and teach them how to fish."

newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
PPS The individual who emailed me, Jeff Hauser, works for the NCGOP but is not a "spokesman." I regret the error and express my apologies to Mr. Hauser for the misclassification.
Mr. Hauser would like me to note this further correction. I am, of course, happy to comply.
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Mark Joseph Stern
@mjs_DC
Amazing! North Carolina Republican Senator Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, issued a press release that is all about my tweet. This is a dream come true.
North Carolina Republicans are extremely upset that anyone would impugn their integrity by accusing them of partisan gerrymandering.
I stand by my response, contained in this thread. But I would like to point out one thing about the press release...
Read 7 tweets
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Mark Joseph Stern
@mjs_DC
This is incredible:

1. North Carolina GOP Sen. Alexander walks into the redistricting room and discovers that his district has been made competitive.
2. He quietly slices up the district to cut out Democratic voters.
3. He gets caught.
4. He announces his retirement.
So many of these politicians simply cannot win elections without diluting votes for their opponents. The North Carolina litigation has provided a fascinating glimpse into the business of election-rigging.
Incidentally, North Carolina Republicans drew remedial maps that retain partisan bias and dilute black representation. Expect the court to reject them. election.princeton.edu/2019/09/15/the…

election.princeton.edu/2019/09/14/nor…
Read 3 tweets
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Mark Joseph Stern
@mjs_DC
This is incredible: North Carolina Republicans have proposed that Art Pope—who funded REDMAP, the GOP's gerrymandering program, in NC, and literally helped draw the 2011 gerrymander there—serve as a special master to help draw new legislative districts. documentcloud.org/documents/6386…
The proposal comes in response to a decision by a North Carolina court invalidating the state's current legislative maps as an illegal partisan gerrymander.

Republicans want *a notorious gerrymanderer* to draw the maps that replace the illegal ones. slate.com/news-and-polit…
"Bad faith" isn't a strong enough term for what North Carolina Republicans are doing here. It's more like trolling the court. Again, Art Pope bankrolled *and helped draw* NC's gerrymanders. To propose that he help fix the current gerrymander is just flipping off the judges.
Read 5 tweets

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David Nir
@DavidNir
This is such a colossal “fuck you” by North Carolina Senate Democrats to all the people who have fought—and donated to—the legal battle to end gerrymandering
NC Republicans are gleeful right now. Democrats just gave them a huge gift. The GOP can now say to the court, "Your honors, this map passed with bipartisan support!" even though it's STILL a pro-Republican gerrymander
On top of that, the NC GOP can also point to comments like those from *DEM* Senate leader Dan Blue, who idiotically declared, "This is the most transparent redistricting process in history."

B.S. This process was completely tainted, as people like @EveryVoiceNC have documented
Read 9 tweets
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Stephen Wolf
@PoliticsWolf
Unreal. Half of North Carolina Senate Dems largely voted for the GOP's new modestly-less-gerrymandered map, likely in part because some Dems got favorable seats to protect neighboring GOP incumbents. This happened in MO, OH, & PA after 2010, now it's happening again #NCpol #NCGA
Dem NC Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue is helping Republicans with statements like this. I showed yesterday how an alternate High Point map could be less unfavorable to Dem Sen. Michael Garrett in District 27 while still following the court's order
The real message coming from North Carolina's Democratic state Senate leader is that they'd rather prefer their own seats remain safe even if it means the entire map still has gerrymandering to favor Republicans. Putting themselves before their party & voters #NCpol #NCGA
Read 9 tweets
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Will Doran
@will_doran
Good evening from the North Carolina Senate, where they’re planning to vote on new maps to replace the ones rules unconstitutional earlier this month

The maps passed committee nearly unanimously but this larger vote might be more controversial; we shall see in a few #ncpol #ncga
In case you were doing something last Friday night *other* than following the redistricting process like us cool kids, here's my article from when the House passed their own maps #ncpol #ncga newsobserver.com/news/politics-…
Republican @RalphHise says the map/process "meets all the criteria the court has laid out and, quite frankly, should be a national model"

Democrat @DanBlueNC agrees: "I think it was a remarkable experience especially when you consider the current political climate" #ncpol #ncga
Read 7 tweets
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Stephen Wolf
@PoliticsWolf
BREAKING: North Carolina's GOP-gerrymandered state legislative districts have been struck down in state court for violating NC's constitution. NC's 6-1 Dem Supreme Court may uphold it & require fairer districts for 2020 that could see Dems win back power dailykos.com/stories/2019/9…
This is a major victory against Republican gerrymandering. Democratic candidates won more votes than Republicans in 2018 but fell short of majorities thanks to the unfair maps. That could change in 2020 & see Dems win total control of state govt again
Most crucially, this case was argued solely under the state constitution. Just like when Pennsylvania's Dem-majority Supreme Court struck down the GOP's congressional gerrymander in 2018, an NC state court ruling would likely be insulated from the US Supreme Court via federalism
Read 20 tweets
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Ryan Saavedra
@RealSaavedra
Twitter asked me yesterday to delete this tweet:

It showed a person allegedly calling for violence against Mitch McConnell

The person appears to be a BLM activist who has met with Elizabeth Warren

I said no and they suspended me *and* McConnell's re-election campaign

THREAD:
They told me, in a private message, that they were going to remove the video contained in the tweet, which was embedded from someone else's account

They also asked me to delete my tweet, which was separate

My tweet was newsworthy and factually accurate

I said no
They said it was for McConnell's safety that they wanted the video removed

They could have removed the video and not my tweet

Keep in mind, Twitter allowed (#)MassacreMitch to trend on the platform for days and there are multiple tweets on this platform that list where he lives
Read 29 tweets
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Theresa Searcaigh
@TSearcaigh
Every School Shooting & their Casualties (THREAD):

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The earliest known US school shooting - July 26, 1764
Present-Day Greencastle, PA

4 shooters entered a schoolhouse where they shot & killed the schoolmaster & killed 10 children. Only 2 kids survived.
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A student, Matthew Ward, bought a self-cocking pistol in the morning, went to school and killed Schoolmaster Mr. Butler in front of his classmates for excessively punishing his brother the day before.
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