Category Archives: ~ my 2cents …

1812 – Packing & Cracking ~ gerrymander~ a repost and reminder

12/18/2025 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), American statesman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The information below is a historic timeline regarding the Census and Gerrymandering or Packing & Cracking rules

In December 1975, the Congress passed Public Law (P.L.) 94-171. This law requires the Census Bureau to make special preparations to provide redistricting data to the 50 states no later than April 1 of the year following a census (so April 1, 2011, for the 2010 Census). P.L. 94-171 specifies that within 1 year of Census Day, the Census Bureau must send each state the small-area data the state will need to redraw districts for the state legislature.

P.L. 94-171 sets up a voluntary program between the Census Bureau and those states that wish to receive population tabulations for voting districts and other state-specified geographic areas.

Under this program, those responsible for the legislative apportionment or redistricting of each state may devise a plan identifying the voting districts for which they want the specific tabulations and submit it to the Census Bureau.

Beginning in 2005, the Redistricting Data Office of the Census Bureau met with state officials in 46 states. These meetings explained the timeline and programs available for the 2010 Census, providing states the time to prepare and allocate resources in advance of the census. The states also provided the Census Bureau with valuable feedback on census program planning.

The 2010 Census Redistricting Data Program is a five-phase program. During Phase 1 (2005–2006), the Census Bureau collected state legislative district boundaries and associated updates to tabulate legislative districts. This phase also included an aggressive 2010 Census communications plan, with visits to state capitals, to make sure the states were informed and prepared for the upcoming census.

Phase 2 (2008–2010) consisted of the Voting District/Block Boundary Suggestion Project (VTD/BBSP) in which states received TIGER/Line® shapefiles and the MAF/TIGER Partnership Software (MTPS) to electronically collect voting district boundaries, feature updates, suggested block boundaries, and corrected state legislative district boundaries. Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 are voluntary programs that include a step where the state verifies the submitted data.

Phase 3 constitutes the delivery of the data for the 2010 Census. The Census Bureau will deliver the geographic and data products to the majority and minority leadership in the state legislatures, the governors, and any designated P.L. 94-171 liaisons. Once bipartisan receipt of the data is confirmed, the data will be made available online to the public within 24 hours through the American FactFinder. For this census, the P.L. 94-171 data will include population counts for small areas within each state, as well as housing occupied/vacancy counts.

After the Census Bureau provides the data, the states will begin their redistricting. States are responsible for delineating their own congressional and legislative boundaries and their legislatures. Legislatures, secretaries of state, governors, and/or redistricting commissions carry out the process.

Go to www.census.gov for the complete article …

For your information, wiki states, “Gerrymandering is effective because of the wasted vote effect.

The Etymology

First printed in March 1812, the political cartoon above was drawn in reaction to the state senate electoral districts drawn by the Massachusetts legislature to favour the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists.

The caricature satirizes the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts as a dragon-like “monster.”

Federalist newspaper editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry‘s last name.

Resources: www.Census.gov

and Wiki

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Do You Look Illegal… first posted in 2012… are things any different in 2023?

08/31/2025 Nativegrl77

Immigration …

Republicans and some conservadems who say they want to help people get back to work, and give small businesses the means to create jobs have once again said one thing while on camera and then voted against the People of the United States. They say a small business needs to be helped because small business creates jobs … but Republicans lie and this is yet another example and now evidence of just what they have in mind for us … as Americans, we should all be outraged but use our voice and our votes to keep Republicans out of office. We need to vote for Politicians who have Americans’ best interests in mind, not …

I don’t believe Immigration is an issue that will bite the backs of any left-leaning politician because immigration has to be dealt with. It has to be comprehensive and, unlike what people on TV seem to want viewers to believe, immigrants, undocumented or not, didn’t just pop up after President Obama was elected. Immigration is the elephant in the room that Politicians on both sides of the aisle have avoided for decades unable to make progress on, the others who along with corporations were more interested in making a buck than solving the massive influx of undocumented people looking for jobs; not all immigrants or those called natural citizens are violent, take jobs away, are crazy or constantly break laws …

Immigration reform will ultimately affect every single person in this country. The notion that every State should be able to make up its own rules, policies, or laws is absurd, not to mention the crap coming from people on the right suggesting that the undocumented or illegals as they call them be rounded up and taken back to their homeland. The comment and the idea are not only offensive; the suggestion about how to pay for the round-up is in itself scary and brings up another time in History when the lives of people who were rounded up and well… we all know what happened, and thought it’s the 21st Century … men and women, called ICE Police, are engaged in rounding up what might be considered Dissidents for both concentration and internment camps.

It is time to ask yourself how many ethnic groups have come to America, been treated poorly, and yes, some succeed while others are still in the shadows, or in concentration camps in the year 2019. In this era of trump, the extreme right or white nationalists noticed the significant browning of America and are now suggesting an en masse round-up and deportation. I will admit I was definitely offended and surprised that folks in 2010 would suggest using stimulus money to round up people and ship them back to their homeland, but what we heard doesn’t even match up to what we are now experiencing, in this era of trump or 2.o trump!

Is it me, or are these wild, wicked, and stupid comments from people getting on the airwaves, talking seemingly crazy and getting paid $175K to do #ThePeoplesBusiness, sound completely absurd? The other question is, do most, if not all, long for a time when most Women and folks of colour were not seen or heard ? They performed duties that the white masta set

Repealing Obamacare cost America at least $70 million with over 50 attempts in 2014, now 63 attempts in 2016 … so, you do the math

A Cruz Government Shutdown cost $24 billion

Benghazi Hearings cost almost $8 million, maybe more!

Email gate cost $82 million or more

The current bills brought to the floor of Congress should give everyone engaged in living in this 21st Century life and the country an opportunity to stop, consider, and debate the obvious ramifications, maybe accept that comprehensive immigration reform needs to be clearly explained and understood. Unfortunately, what the right calls Amnesty. It would be in all of our best interests for those on the right to avoid the notion that all the undocumented or “illegals” are violent and malicious folks doing all kinds of bad things. However, they cannot help themselves though we all know that not all undocumented, “illegals” as they call the undocumented are bad and decades ago, employers decided to look the other way when folks started coming across the border to look for jobs getting the jobs that were paying little or nothing but saved them money.

It is time, to be honest, and deal with the reality of the impact and contributions that undocumented people have on the US economy, because it is big. The idea is not lost on me that the immigration laws republicans want implemented across the country would also have some negative consequences on all folks of colour, women, children, as well as the elderly, by pushing Americans back to a time that we all hoped was nearly gone and stayed in our history books.

However, we have to remind people that we cannot go backward. It was not that long ago when women and people of colour were seen as 3rd class citizens, and servants, and rarely heard from by anyone unless they were forced to do the unthinkable or worse.

Photo is from Getty Images.

~ Culture & History, ~ my 2cents ...

August … a month full of historic events

08/30/2025 Nativegrl77

just another rant …

August~

remember Katrina … remind folks what happened on the Gulf Coast as the people fled, some were forced out into the streets some died in the Katrina disaster trying to get out safely; while others faced excessive force violence and death

August 1, 1838 – Slavery was abolished in Jamaica. It had been introduced by Spanish settlers 300 years earlier in 1509.

August 2, 1776 – In Philadelphia, most of the 55-56 members of the Continental Congress signed the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence.

August 3
1936 – Jesse Owens won the first of his four Olympic gold medals.

1943 – Gen. George S. Patton verbally abused and slapped a private. Later, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered him to apologize for the incident.

1981 – U.S. traffic controllers with PATCO, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, went on strike. They were fired just as U.S. President Reagan had warned.

1992 – The U.S. Senate voted to restrict and eventually end the testing of nuclear weapons.

2004 – NASA launched the spacecraft Messenger. The 6 1/2 year journey was planned to arrive at the planet Mercury in March 2011. On April 30, 2015, Messenger crashed into the surface of Mercury after sending back more than 270,000 pictures.

August 4, 1962 – Apartheid opponent Nelson Mandela was arrested by security police in South Africa. He was then tried and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1964, he was placed on trial for sabotage, high treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government and was sentenced to life in prison. A worldwide campaign to free him began in the 1980s and resulted in his release on February 11, 1990, at age 71 after 27 years in prison. In 1993, Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with South Africa’s President F.W. de Klerk for their peaceful efforts to bring a nonracial democracy to South Africa. In April 1994, black South Africans voted for the first time in an election that brought Mandela the presidency of South Africa.

August 4, 1964 – Three young civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were found murdered and buried in an earthen dam outside Philadelphia, Mississippi. They had disappeared on June 21 after being detained by Neshoba County police on charges of speeding. They were participating in the Mississippi Summer Project organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to increase black voter registration. When their car was found burned on June 23, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the FBI to search for the men.

August 5, 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first Federal income tax, a 3 percent tax on incomes over $800, as an emergency wartime measure during the Civil War. However, the tax was never actually put into effect.

August 6, 1965 – The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Act suspended literacy, knowledge and character tests designed to keep African Americans from voting in the South. It also authorized the appointment of Federal voting examiners and barred discriminatory poll taxes. The Act was renewed by Congress in 1975, 1984 and 1991.

August 6-10, 1787 – The Great Debate occurred during the Constitutional Convention. Outcomes included the establishment of a four-year term of office for the President, granting Congress the right to regulate foreign trade and interstate commerce, and the appointment of a committee to prepare a final draft of the Constitution.

August 9, 1974 – Effective at noon, Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency as a result of the Watergate scandal. Nixon had appeared on television the night before and announced his decision to the American people. Facing possible impeachment by Congress, he became the only U.S. President ever to resign.

August 10, 1863 – The President meets with abolitionist Frederick Douglass who pushes for full equality for Union ‘Negro troops.’

August 11, 1841 – Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, spoke before an audience in the North for the first time. During an anti-slavery convention on Nantucket Island, he gave a powerful, emotional account of his life as a slave. He was immediately asked to become a full-time lecturer for the Massachusetts Antislavery Society.

August 11-16, 1965 – Six days of riots began in the Watts area of Los Angeles, triggered by an incident between a white member of the California Highway Patrol and an African American motorist. Thirty-four deaths were reported and more than 3,000 people were arrested. Damage to property was listed at $40 million.

On August 14, 1862, Abraham Lincoln did something unprecedented in presidential history up to that point: he met with a small delegation of black leaders (all free: 5 black clergymen). But the meeting did not auger a decision to give African Americans a voice in government. In essence, Lincoln sought to lobby these men in essence to agree to a divorce. In other words, the President wanted to get black Americans behind his plan to colonize them abroad. –Source http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln5/1:812?rgn=div1;singlegenre=All;sort=occur;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=August+14

August 14, 1935 – President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act establishing the system which guarantees pensions to those who retire at age 65. The Social Security system also aids states in providing financial aid to dependent children, the blind and others, as well as administering a system of unemployment insurance.

August 15, 1969 – Woodstock began in a field near Yasgur’s Farm at Bethel, New York. The three-day concert featured 24 rock bands and drew a crowd of more than 300,000 young people. The event came to symbolize the counter-culture movement of the 1960’s.

August 18, 1920 – The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote.

August 24-

August 28, 1963 – The March on Washington occurred as over 250,000 persons attended a Civil Rights rally in Washington, D.C., at which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made his now-famous I Have a Dream speech.

August 28, 1955 The death of Emmett Till

August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina slams into Gulf Coast

August 30 1967 Thurgood Marshall confirmed as Supreme Court justice

1983 U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Guion S. Bluford becomes the first African American to travel into space when the space shuttle Challenger

August 31

Resource: http://www.historyplace.com

~Nativegrl77

~ my 2cents ..., ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Birtherism is still alive ..

08/21/2025 Nativegrl77

Birthers Are Back …

this was first posted on 8/2013

~ my 2cents ...

What year is it?

08/18/2025 Nativegrl77 2 Comments

a repost … a rant

The conservative stance or comments about women, Planned Parenthood, contraceptives, and abortion have been beyond offensive yet enlightening for voters who believe it’s time to give women choices like men have had without interference. Hopefully, fact-checking the claims about what Planned Parenthood does for both men and women while considering vasectomies, Viagra, and other enhancements including equipment used by men while they’re at it.

The fact is, some women do not want children, very young women are not ready, and working women need time, sadly there are victims of violence who are capable of making their own (personal decisions) plan their families around their individual situations. We all deserve (free will) to choose whatever reproductive procedure is appropriate for our lives, no matter what conservatives believe.

It is the 21st Century, why can’t these conservatives understand that birth control, contraceptives, and or possible abortions are a part of a woman’s overall health care is beyond my understanding. Yet, pro-lifers don’t seem to let facts get in the way because they feel women who have sex and get pregnant should either have the baby or give it up for adoption. First, the conservative movement that pushes a family values platform on women is political, big government in full effect and should stay out unless requested and or they are a family member or doctor. Second, women should not be the only ones responsible for the prevention of unwanted pregnancies; men need to step up. Third, Conservatives use a broad brush on the topic of women and their health care, specifically when the topic includes reproductive services, STOP. Last, the new law or change implemented by former President Obama’s Admin offered an option for safe and affordable access to healthcare services. The idea that folks are against women who pay for all or part of their #ACA should not have reproductive coverage is absurd. It’s time to question, and demand answers from those in religious organizations who get federal funding, investigated. Isn’t it fair that they are required to fall in line or lose the funding likewise pharmacists who say their religion keeps them from POS =point of sales, of contraception products seem to contradict the business … excuse me…some are also getting federal funds to do and or stay in business.

I don’t know about you, but the reasoning and or rationalization Conservative Politicians, constituents, or members of Congress used to bash and attack organizations like Planned Parenthood by reciting so-called facts from the internet with a list of falsehoods is embarrassing. The list of questionable information includes silly things like PPH misuses money, funnels money or that PPH only does abortions is just the beginning. I can only say the #ConservativeConspiracy theorists are in full effect in this year of 2024. The facts are there; find out by calling Planned Parenthood! They do so much more than just abortions, but that pro-life aka MAGA stance on abortion seems to be the Conservative focus filled with misleading information assuming hoping their constituents won’t research their comments.

Thankfully, women who are uninsured, underinsured, or who just cannot afford a mainstream doctor can go to Planned Parenthood, which is the first step. If needed, they get referred to get mammograms at an affiliated clinic with a Planned Parenthood Doctor. Voters can always assume Republicans will never let the truth get in the way of nasty rhetoric about PPH and women who choose.

Unfortunately, that thing about the Democratic Party wanting to abort black babies is not even a thing, let alone ludicrous. The Democratic Party has stated that it protects a woman’s right to choose and will apply all the Federal laws that exist …period. We cannot be surprised at all the misinformation thrown at viewers by TV hosts and Pundits. I get it, you don’t like abortion, but I suggest that Republican Leaders would be better off calling out the source or thorn in the side of your Pro-life stance advocates. It must be tough not to want to use a footnote or source as an absolute from the internet but come up short. If you listen to conservative TV and talk radio, you realize most just throw out the facts when it comes to birth control, contraceptives, abortion, and what they all mean to a woman’s health care in general.

Women’s health care has always been a politically charged football. Women of childbearing years or, if indeed pregnant were and are still in some states, considered or labeled as being a pre-existing condition; an offensive rationalization used by so many in the insurance industry to deny or limit safe and affordable health care. Because of former President Obama, that practice by the insurance industry was no longer acceptable, however, we still need to regulate how insurance industries treat women, our ability to reproduce makes Conservatives rise up to engage in hypocrisy on so many levels. I get the disagreement about abortion, but most Planned Parenthood clinics offer men and women quality accessible, safe, and affordable health care no matter what form it comes in. Yet, an ideology, a family values platform pushed, debated, and voted into law by red-state Republicans has managed to be implemented in some states that are now trying to dismantle Women’s rights quietly, others have been blocked by the courts without allowing proper challenges IMO. HOW?

Today, in this 21st Century life, women still have to demand the right to make personal health care choices without political intervention.

Unfortunately, some states have succeeded in shoving the reproductive services issue in a political box with laws that are so archaic you have to wonder what year it is.

The cliché of, “do as we say, NOT as we do” keeps coming to my mind every time I hear Conservatives or any extremist on the right speak on issues of Women’s Reproductive Rights. Again, Men’s health care issues unlike women have been treated differently and provided with procedures and enhancement drugs among other things without questions. Yet, Women, mostly Women of colour are being singled out as Abortion Scarlet, Abortion Abusers, portrayed as something mysterious, possibly evil, and definitely disrespected by some extreme folks from the right who do not seem to understand that birth control, rape, unwanted pregnancy’s, incest, contraceptives, and abortion are all a part of a women’s and little girl’s health care no matter what race or economic background.

Freedom Fighters … believe #TheRightToChooseMatters

Get ready for the DNC to shake up Chicago as a Change Maker … #VoteForKamalaWalz2024