Recap of this week in the revolution: Texas Democrats deny quorum for redistricting vote. Congress.gov tries to obscure the law, the IRS allows representation without taxation, and Trump takes nuclear safety funds to pimp his plane. Hundreds of human-rights violations found in ICE detention centers, states prepare for redistricting war, and Trump weaponizes government against political enemies. Join the revolution by attending the final session of One Million Rising.
The good...
Empty chairs at the Texas House of Representatives
The Trump regime "requested" five new Republican seats in Texas, and the bootlickers in the Texas Republican Party are racing to obey their führer by proposing to redraw district maps to create new Republican "safe" seats.
Texas Democrats aren't taking this sitting down. Literally. Several Texas democrats left the state to ensure that the Texas House did not have enough voters present to reach a quorum. They did this despite the risk of being fined $500 a day or possibly being arrested, and despite the fact that the House is scheduled to hold a hearing on local emergency officials' response to the devastating July 4 floods.
Representative Cody Vasut tried to justify the move by claiming that it is "totally right for Texas to be able to...improve the political performance of its map."
Representative Gene Wu countered by saying, "Governor Abbott...is using an intentionally racist map to steal the voices of millions of Black and Latino Texans, all to execute a corrupt political deal."
While it's not currently illegal to intentionally alter district maps to favor one political party over another by disenfranchising voters from the opposing party, it's definitely immoral. And the idea that an entire political party will willingly and openly engage in such behavior in direct response to a "request" from the president to give him more representatives is so fundamentally unpatriotic and un-American that it should be met with outrage by anyone who cares about their country.
Texas' Governor, Greg Abbott, and Attorney General, Ken Paxton, filed petitions with the Texas Supreme Court to remove 13 Democrats from office, claiming that they had abandoned their offices by leaving the state. "This move from Paxton is straight from the playbook of dictators and fascists who know they cannot win fair elections," according to a statement from the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus.
The bad...
Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution suddenly disappeared from congress.gov's annotated online Constitution. It just so happens that this missing section is the same one that guarantees the right to challenge unlawful detention.
Yep...even as the American Gestapo known as ICE is on a nationwide rampage trying to disappear citizens and non-citizens alike and deny them their rights to due processes, legal representation, and habeas corpus, the part of the Constitution that guarantees these rights happened to disappear from the official congress.gov website.
While the Library of Congress is calling this a "coding error," the fact that this particular piece of the Constitution—that has been under open attack from the Trump regime—just happened to be the one affected by this "coding error" is so improbable that it simply can't be believed.
In addition, the person responsible for maintaining the website is Librarian of Congress Todd Blanche, who was appointed by Donald Trump. Blanche is an attorney who has a long history of losing cases that try to limit the very right that suddenly vanished from the website.
While the missing information on the website does not change the law, it does affect people's understanding of the law, and this tactic is commonly used around the world by authoritarian governments to confuse their people into thinking the missing law doesn't exist. When people don't know their rights, it's a lot easier to take them away.
Wikipedia article (8/7/2025) explains that 501(c)(3) organizations are not allowed to support political candidates.
Since 1954, churches recognized as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations have been granted an exemption from paying federal income taxes. In exchange, they had to follow certain rules, one of which dictated that they were not permitted to support political candidates.
Recently, the IRS upended this provision and explicitly stated that religious leaders are free to endorse political candidates from the pulpit.
Ryan Burge, a political and religious expert at Washington University, warns about the consequences of this decision:
“It all comes down to the 5% of people on each side of the political spectrum who are the loudest and are trying to drag you into their fervor.”
It's worth noting that churches have never been prohibited from supporting political candidates. They just aren't allowed to do so if they want to maintain their tax-exempt status. Personally, I have nothing against churches endorsing whichever political candidates they want to. But I do object to them having this type of political power without having to pay any federal taxes. Think of this as the flip side of the Revolutionary War coin: "No representation without taxation."
The Air Force has set aside funds to modernize our nuclear missile sites, which are deteriorating and in desperate need of repair.
Donny 2-Dolls has taken over $900 million of that money to use to renovate the airplane he was given as a "free gift" from Qatar. It's comforting to know that while the safety of our massive nuclear arsenal deteriorates, the TACO king will be taking a dump in a golden toilet in his flying palace.
The ugly...
Inside ICE detention center in McAllen, Texas, 2018.
More than 500 reports of death, physical and sexual abuse, inadequate medical care, overcrowding, and unsanitary living conditions were discovered during a preliminary report on conditions inside immigration detention facilities throughout the United States. Many of these reports outline violations committed against against women and children. Pregnant women and cancer patients are being denied medical care, including one women who had a miscarriage, a young girl vomiting blood, and a cancer patient denied access to follow-up care.
“Regardless of our views on immigration policy, the American people do not support the abuse of detainees and prisoners … it’s more important than ever to shine a light on what’s happening behind bars and barbed wire, especially and most shockingly to children,”— Senator Job Ossoff
Political cartoon printed in 1812 in reaction to gerrymandering districts in Massachusetts. The newspaper called the practice the "Gerry-mander" from Governor Elbridge Gerry, who signed the bill allowing redistricting, and depicted it as a salamander (at the time, "salamander" was often used in reference to a dragon-like mythical creature).
Texas Republicans are bending over backwards to do the bidding their TACO king, Donny 2-Dolls, and redraw their voting district maps to add 5 more seats for Republican representatives in Congress.
This move has prompted other states to consider redrawing their own maps to gain more representatives for their preferred party. Typically, states redraw district maps after the one-per-decade census (The last took place in 2020, the next is scheduled for 2030). But now, the following states are considering redistricting to add Congressional seats for their preferred party:
States seeking to add Republican seats:
- Indiana
- Texas
- Florida
- Missouri
States seeking to add Democratic seats:
- California
- New York
- New Jersey
- Illinois
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.
The Trump regime has been using the power of the government to attack anyone who dares to oppose their dictatorial authority. From large law firms to individual attorneys, the regime has used the Department of Justice to attack anyone who dares to rule against their actions.
The targets are not random. They are carefully chosen in a "trickle-down" fashion...starting with big law firms that the public has no sympathy for anyway. Once they get away with these targets and establish a precedent, they systematically work their way down until they get to the ones that are defending the Constitution and the rights of the people.
The attacks are not limited to the legal profession. Any movement, organization, or person who dares to oppose the regime's power-grab is subject to punishment. Why are they doing this?
"As civil society groups are steamrolled into compliance and those who stand up to Trump are punished, it will only become more difficult to stop Trump’s authoritarian agenda."
What can you do this week?
Sign up for session 3 of this three-part series.
Part Three of One Million Rising takes place on August 13, 2025. If you missed the first two sessions, you can still get caught up by watching the recordings here:
Session 1: July 16
Session 2: July 30
On the lighter side...
