April 30, 2026 • 39 mins
Jon begins Hour 1 of the show by talking about Trump saying that they will release UFO files soon. Then Jeff O'Brien joins the show to talk about the SPOTUS ruling that race can not be considered while redistricting.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I think we're going to be releasing as much as
we can in the near future for some reason, and
I guess.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's just a reason.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's been in the minds.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Of people for a long time, and that is such
they want to find out about the UFOs and anything
having to do with UFO or related material, and we're
going to be releasing a.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Lot of things from that we have, and I think
it's going to be very interesting to people.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I've interviewed people my first term primarily, but I interviewed
some pilots, very solid people, and they said they saw
things that you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
So you're going to be reading about it.
Speaker 5 (00:38):
Yeah, Oh, Ye're crazy?
Speaker 6 (00:39):
Am I?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
Is it possible? Is it?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Or is it so possible that your head is spinning
like a top.
Speaker 7 (00:53):
It can't be or is your entire world just crashing down?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That son?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, and I.
Speaker 8 (01:02):
Love your show.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
We'll talk about this in just a moment here on
Twin Cities News Talk, President Donald Trump confirming he's releasing
UFO files and it's about to get doing that thing
with my fingers interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
But that also applies to the.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Show today, Twin Cities News Talk In case you didn't know,
AM eleven thirty one three five FM streaming all over
the world via the iHeartRadio app. I wonder where our
farthest listener on.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
The app is today. If you think.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
That you are listening from the greatest distance from the
Twin Cities this morning, drop me a talk back. I
have nothing to give you. I'm just curious. On the
show today, huge Scotus news yesterday as the Democrats start
(02:04):
to flip out, We'll get into the ruling which could
could hand the Republicans' victories in the mid terms. Despite
it being an off presidential year, Florida is already changing
their maps. We're going to get you up to speed
(02:25):
on that. Our lawyer extraordinaire who was one of the
first to reach out to me yesterday in the wake
of the bombshell Scotis decision. He'll be joining us at
six point thirty this morning, a lawyer Chordinair Jeff O'Brien
to share his thoughts.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
The charges have been dropped on the.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Three the trio of Jackwagons known as the Astrushkos who
assaulted Savannah Hernandez. That's right, the ej charges yesterday for
assaulting the Turning Point USA reporter outside of the Whipple Building.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Actually it happened faster than I thought.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
These things typically move slowly, so we'll give you details
on that. Just after seven o'clock. Oh, a war of
words between the Vice President and Governor Dim Walls. More
pushback of Walls attempting to take credit for the fraud
and HSI raids in Minneapolis earlier this week. The new
(03:27):
fight for minimum wage is going up. I predicted this
years ago. I'm gonna I'm absolutely gonna brag. I'm totally
gonna take credit. But I said during the what at
the time was the ridiculous fight for fifteen, It's like,
why bother stopping and fighting for fifteen? This is just
going to go up? Why not fight for twenty? Why
(03:48):
not thirty? Well it's happened predictably, so so we'll get
into details of that just after a seven thirty c More.
Congressional candidate Paul Wistrom will join in just after eight o'clock,
and then I have a I have a handful of stuff,
evergreen stories I haven't had a chance to dive into
(04:11):
yet this week, so hesitant to go and say exactly
what we'll get to just depending on how the rest
of the show rolls out this morning. And as always,
the want to hear from you. You can email, you
can drop a talk back. We'll talk more about that
in a moment. Already a few of your comments have
rolled into the IHEARTRA Radio app.
Speaker 9 (04:30):
Good morning, John, friend of the show, Holly and Blaine.
Just wanted to say that two of my boys and
I went and saw Project Hail Mary last night and
I have to agree it was a most excellent and well,
yeah that is thanks for the heads up on that one.
Have a great day.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, it kind of thumbs up to from the only
as far as I know, the only Freedom Friday. Frequent
guest host on the show, Grace Keating, who will be
in tomorrow with Catherine Johnson. No ak tomorrow. He has
other plans. It's going to go talk to somebody else
on a podcast, and I guess John Justice Show isn't
(05:05):
good enough for him.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Thank you that No, it's all good.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
No.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So we have both of the hosts of the American
Experiment podcast in tomorrow along with with MaTx Rimmer. But
she also gave the thumbs up to Project Hail Mary
speaking of aliens. We played that audio a moment ago
during all oval office visit President Donald Trump saying that
(05:30):
he will be releasing as much as they can in
the near future. Regarding UFOs, I've interviewed people my first term,
primarily interviewed some pilots, some very solid people. Listen, I'm
curious about this. I want to see everything released, keeping
a trying to keep an open mind. Whether these are
in a little green or gray men from deep space
(05:51):
or you know, more like trans trans beings, not trans
beings that we I'm missing the I'm missing the attachment
to it. I want to say transdimensional. Interdimensional, that's the
word I'm looking for. Holy cow, you're fascinating to talking
transdimensional works too, but interdimensional. If you saw Indiana Jones
and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at this point, if
(06:13):
the information is going to come out this year, just
wait until we get closer to June. Steven Spielberg's new movie, Disclosure,
is all about disclosure of aliens. It's his return into
talking about aliens previously close encounters in the et of course,
So I just let's just make it a big, huge,
just you know, all encapsulating moment.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
We'll get the movie.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Fictionalizing the disclosure of aliens UFOs. At the same time,
we can get the presidents releasing all the government information
regarding UFOs. I think it would make for a fantastic
start to the summer.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
All right, well, you.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Know what I'm about six degrees. Actually I have less
than six degree separate. I have one one degree of
separation between myself and President Donald Trump with Pete access.
So I'll I'll text Pete later on today and say, hey,
tell Trump to wait, wait until we get closer to
Steven Spielberg's disclosure before we start releasing all of the
UFO information. By the way, did you hear just I
(07:15):
just was thinking of technology and UFOs. Did you hear
this myth that if you put a coin on your
Wi Fi router it actually helps your Wi Fi signal
in your home? Yeah, people are stacking like coins on
top of their WiFi router to boost their Internet speed.
I'll talk a little bit about this coming up in
(07:36):
just a moment. I found an article on it, and
I'll just leave it out there. And I'm just surprised
people sill have coins.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's a very good point I don't think cop I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, well, pennies are gone, but yeah, they're using you know,
they're using nickels and dimes and quarters. I had never
heard this before. So well, we'll share some details and
well also hear from you in the iHeartRadio app. As
I mentioned, you can email just Is at iHeartRadio uh
dot com or leave a talkback. Those are brought to
you by Lyndahl Realty. You know, I asked a moment ago,
(08:07):
who was listening? Who's who's listening from the from the
farthest distance from the Twin Cities this morning?
Speaker 10 (08:14):
Well talking about greatest distance?
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Uh, well, listening to the show would have been cool.
If you should have got a shout out.
Speaker 10 (08:21):
On the.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
That would have been cool. I don't know how that
would have happened. I didn't.
Speaker 11 (08:29):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I don't know anybody on the Artemis to mission. And
I mean, my show is popular, but it's not that
famous to where they would have.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Heard about it.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
But I do agree that would have been That would
have been cool.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Hey, John, I'm about the Blow your Mind. I have
Eric from Blow my Mind.
Speaker 10 (08:46):
Yeah, somebody was right next to the station where you're
at right, they are.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Both the closest and the furthest from you at the
same time, depending on which way you go from where they're.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Think about that one. I did, I did.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I just thought about it, and it's it's a it's
a rather clever way to look at it. I mean,
technically speaking, there they still be right there. You know,
we're talking semantics here. I'm looking for physical distance. And
so we'll see if any we have any takers. Coming
up on Twin Cities News Talk, we will get to
the Supreme Court decision what it means for the midterms,
(09:22):
and our guest lawyer extraordinair Jeff O'Brien at six thirty.
Glad you're with the show for a Thursday morning here
on Twin Cities News Talk AM eleven thirty and What
three five FM and Twin Cities News Talk and Guaranteed Human.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Transin Jog. Yeah, well, I guess they're already here.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
You solve it.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I said, well, you know, that's what I try to
do on the show.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Unfortunately Rich I couldn't hear Rich in his talkback, so
he's down in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
We were asking who is the farthest away right now?
Listening to Twin City's News Talk. Hey John, this is Alex.
Speaker 11 (10:09):
Hey Alex driving in Florida, the truck driver, just listening
to your show. Just want to say you're an awesome guy.
Oh God bless you later.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Thanks sir, God bless you as well. You'll have to
be more specific because as to where in Florida you're listening,
because you're in competition here.
Speaker 8 (10:30):
Tom and Tampa listening from down here for almost five years.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I guess it depends on truly long state and I
know people people realize that, so this may be the
furthest though today listening to the show.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
Good morning, John, Alex elk River. I'm coming to you
from Normandy, France, where I'm on a World War eleven
tour Amaha beach.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Oh sewitty what what he did there?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
That's good, It's good this morning.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It is Twin City's News TALKINGAM eleven thirty and one
oh three five FM. Thank you for the comments via
the iHeartRadio app brought to you by Lindahl Realty. You've
probably seen according to this article I have here in
front of me, I hadn't.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
The viral coin trick for faster Wi Fi.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
They do ask the question, but what it actually does
to your router is something that nobody talks about. So
this is a viral home networking tip that claims placing
a common coin on top of a wireless router can
boost the Internet speed and stability. It's once again detraction
(11:42):
across social media platforms. Network specialists published technical guidelines, however,
say that the practice, oh sad has no measurable effect
on signal performance and may actually damage the equipment over time.
What if you ball up like tinfoil and just like
set it on top me turn it into like a
tower with I don't think I don't know how any
(12:04):
of this works.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
As somebody that works for an Internet company when it
comes to these coin bes save tennis for Wi Fi owns,
please do not put that off in the world. That's
just going to make sure way more trouble cause from
the random people.
Speaker 11 (12:20):
Again.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
The technique recently appeared in technology forms and short form
video content. It holds that the metallic properties of a
coin can actually can act as a supplementary antenna or heat.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Dissipator for the device.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
It is an appealing idea household object freely available supposedly
on Locke's of Better connectivity without any software configuration or
an expensive hardware upgrade. Multiple technology experts, though, examined the
claim and found that neither justification holds up to any
scrutiny whatsoever any perceived improvement, and the performance is more
(13:03):
a plausibly tied to normal network fluctuations than the presence
of a coin. The Tricks Resurgence shows how stubbornly technological
miscon circulate kept alive by anecdotal reports and a hazy
understanding of the wireless communications.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
No, just no, just just no. Stacking Teddy's on top
of your wireless Robert as a makeshift antenna is not
going to help your wife by signal cattle. It probably
will holdly heard it.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, yeah, you know you figure listen, if something like
that actually went and worked, Okay, if something like that
actually went.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
And worked, somebody would already have come up.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
With something that could be sold in the store that
you can just place on top of your you know,
by this special metal you know, has the same materials
as the coins, and you can send it on top
of your WiFi routers.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 8 (14:06):
Do.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I do laugh though, because it talks about the Tricks
Resurgence shows how stubbornly miscon circulate, kept alive by anecdotal
reports and a hazy understanding of whatever.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
How many how.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Much of that just applies to what we talk about
on the show.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
On a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
For crying for crying out loud, right, thank you though
for the for the inside, I greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
Oh, between freaking out over the Scotis decision, yeah, and
the Southern poverty laws and stuff. Man, these racist Democrats
are really having a hect of a year.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
They really are.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
We're gonna talk more about this with lawyer extraordinaire Jeff
O'Brien in just a moment here on Twin Cities News Talk.
Florida Republicans also passed a new congressional map that could
eliminate up to four Democrat held seats, potentially flipping districts
in Tampa, Orlando in South Florida.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Oh hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
The map is expected to be signed by Governor DeSantis,
and it does reflect Florida's political shifted to the right.
In alliance with the recent Supreme Court ruling that we'll
talk about next limiting the use of race and redistricting.
The new map is likely to face legal challenges due
to the state and constitutional provision barring partisan jerrymandering. I'll
(15:24):
be asking a question two when we talk with Jeff O'Brien,
because the Supreme Court ruling yesterday is a is probably
one of the biggest examples as of late of relics
of the past in terms of laws and the rationale
for those laws when they were first implemented, and yet
they're no longer relevant to modern day. When these law,
(15:51):
when these lines were initially drawn, this was about bringing
fairness in these particular areas where in the argument was
that people of color were disproportionately disenfranchised from the voting
process and representation in Congress. Well, this just isn't the
case anymore. It hasn't been the case for decades, and
(16:14):
it's partly what the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, which again,
in my mind, raises the question of what other relics
of the past do we need to look at changing
because they're no longer relevant. The first one that popped
into my head was the temporary protect the status that
Trump went and attempted to remove for individuals that were
coming to the country using the excuse that they were
fleeing a war torn region. So that's another good example. Oh,
(16:38):
health insurance having to be tied to your employment. The
rationale for that has fallen by the wayside too. So
if you have any that you'd like to add laws
that are essentially relics of the past, feel free to
leave a talkbacker. You can email Justice at iHeartRadio dot com.
The Supreme Court ruling has, however, cracked open a redistricting
(17:00):
war and Republicans see a path to power.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Oh hell yeah, we will talk with our lawyer. Extrad
and air Jeff O'Brien.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Next here on Twin City's News Talk Am eleven thirty
and one h three five FM begun the crash out
over the Supreme Court ruling states cannot consider race when
drawing congressional maps, limiting the use of the voting rights
(17:31):
to act in redistricting. This is a clip from MS
Now yesterday. Here on Twin City's News Talk.
Speaker 12 (17:39):
Leah, what do you see as the ripple effects? Are
there other states that could now redraw their maps that
you think are going to be likely to do so?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
It's very possible.
Speaker 13 (17:51):
So one expert on voting rights, Professor Nick Stephanopolis at
Harvard Law School, actually estimated that a ruling to this
effect in Louisiana versus Cala could effect up to potentially
fifty legislative districts.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
I start to say all of.
Speaker 13 (18:07):
Those states might redraw their districts so close to the
midterm elections, but that does underscore what a significant effect
this ruling will have on our democracy and who is
able to obtain political power. So Florida, we know, has
expressed interest in potentially doing some redistricting. Their initial plan
(18:29):
for when they were going to do so was pushed
back when we didn't have this decision last week. But
my guess is they will get that process started now,
and it's possible other states will follow. It's possible the
President will invite other states to do more redistricting, like
he did when he invited them to do more partisan
redistricting last year. So it remains to be seen exactly
(18:51):
how many states might scramble to try to affect the
upcoming midterm elections.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
But I think it's all but.
Speaker 13 (18:57):
A certainty that many states will you draw the districts
within the next few years and certainly after the next
redistricting cycle in ways that will make it so much
harder for voters of color to actually select the candidates
of their choice.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
All right, so.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
For some experts analysis, we go to our lawyer extraordinaiy
in Well, I guess not in house either way.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
You are the lawyer extraordinaire.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Jeff O'Brien joins us this morning here on Twin Cities
News Talk. So you've had some time to sit on this, Jeff,
where is your where's your head at on what kind
of impact this is going to end up having, specifically
between now and the midterms later this year.
Speaker 8 (19:43):
Well, thanks for having me on, John, And you know,
just based on some of the actions of some of
the states affected by this, I would say, you know,
like you said earlier, might have an impact. I think
Mike is the key word here. It is early. You know,
the clip that you played and someone's had impact on
(20:04):
fifty seats. I think that's high. The number I keep
hearing is particularly there's twelve congressional seats in the Southern
States that are probably at issue here and could be
you know, those states are more likely to redraw maps.
(20:27):
I've seen some chatter about some saying that other states,
there may be some other districts that were drawn based
on race. And there may be some and they might
be in like the Blue states, and so those would
have to come with additional court challenges based on yesterday's ruling,
So you know, it's certainly going to have an impact.
And you know, Flora yesterday passed a new map that
(20:49):
I think adds basically swings four seats into the more
republican and they had already started that that was in
response to the Virginia the referendum, and that one is
now on hold with the Virginia Supreme Court, and based
on a preliminary ruling when they turned down a motion
(21:10):
from the Attorney general to he wanted to allow the
certification to go ahead and they said no. So that's
looking like it's going to be reversed. And then on
top of that you have this decision. I know that Mississippi,
at the governor there had already called a special sex,
a special session in anticipation of this ruling coming, and
(21:30):
so Mississippi is likely to go. I think Missouri might
be another one, moving to basically have an all Republican
all Republican districts. And I know Marshall Blackburn, the US
Senator from Tennessee, was pushing her state to to redraw
the lines to do the same thing there. So I
think there's going to be some movements, and then of
(21:51):
course I think you're gonna have you know, and I
know that there was also some talk about some of
the Blue states, you know, maybe retaliating doing something more
of what Virginia or California did, But if you look
at the numbers, and a lot of those states have
already drawn those districts to the point where there are
no Republican seats. So I don't know how much that
(22:13):
in Illinois or a California can do at this point
to have a measurable impact. And of course here in Minnesota,
with the House being divided fifty to fifty, there isn't
going to be any sort of retaliatory map or anything
like that done before the midterms, so, you know, and
there could be there's going to be court challenges from
(22:35):
from from one from probably from the Democrat Democrat side.
I mean, you're not just going to roll over and
you know, take it. So we'll see how how many
of these changes get in, you know, implemented before the midterms.
I did see just you know, a few minutes ago,
Jeff Landry Governor of Louisiana. This is an x is
(22:56):
suspending the primary so that the maps can be redrawn
in the Louisiana per the court decision.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Well, there was a post that was put out yesterday
at US Ronald A. Carter, and I just want to
kind of and it dovetails nicely into what you just said.
They're talking with lawyer extraordinair, Jeff O'Brien. Democrats don't have
a House majority without those.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Court ordered maps.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
A dozen of their current seats set in districts that
only exist because federal courts forced states to draw them Louisiana,
as you mentioned, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, everyone
has at least one Democrat seat in a court created
by a black majority district.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
The House margin is four seats.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
This coat has just made at twelve other two hundred
and thirteen seats legally redrawable. And there's a little bit
more here, but let me add something to this that
larger number, And I kind of want to put this
in the back of everybody's mind. When people talk about
the number of affected seats and you hear these double
digit numbers, I think what a lot of people are
confusing is it's not all Republican. The Democrats do in
(24:03):
some states have the opportunity to have some districts that
actually go in their favor. It's just that Republicans have
an abundance more that can go in their favor than Democrats.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
I think, go ahead, Yeah, I think I think that's correct.
And also, you know, part of you know, the Florida
actions yesterday which had nothing which were already in you know,
underway before the court decision. And some might question, why
would you know, because why is it okay and in
Florida but not in say, Virginia. Florida's basis for why
(24:37):
they were redrawing boundaries has to goes back to the
incorrect count allegedly in the twenty twenty census, where states
like Florida were undercounted and states that you know, you
consider blue states were overcounted, and so they're seeking to
read draw boundaries to you know, provide some additional fairness
(24:58):
in their minds, to you know, even things out saying
that we would have had more more seats and probably
more Republican seats have the census been done accurately or
completed accurately. So that's part of what and I think
Texas had that was part of their issue too. There
was some reason why, you know, there was some sort
of a statistical inaccuracy as to why they initially started
(25:19):
doing this, and then of course then then you had everything.
Then the fight was on on the other side too.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
There was an interesting line in this post. It said
Republican led legislators don't need new voters, they need a
redistricting committee and a Tuesday afternoon. Now, obviously you still
have to have people go out and vote, but the
point being.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Is, you know, typically people go out and vote. So
because people go.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Out and vote, the redistricting really does just mean that
you just need to make sure that you do the
proper redistricting. And to what you said a moment ago,
and then we can move on to some of the
aspects of this. I have some talkbacks that rolled into it. Says,
if race based districts are unconstantutional, then Louisiana redraws. If
Louisiana redraws, then Alabama redraws. If Alabama redraws, then every
(26:07):
Southern state redraws. If every Southern state redraws. The Democrat
House majority was a sixty year courtroom artifact not an
election result, and they said, that's what nobody is saying
out loud. And they even go so far as to say,
and I think this is a putting.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
The cart a bit before the horse.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
But they say, the twenty twenty six midterms were just
decided six three six months before election day. That seems
a bit premature. But what do you think, Jeff?
Speaker 8 (26:37):
Yeah, you know, you still have to go out and vote.
And you know, the Democrats and their supporters are definitely motivated.
You know, we've seen that so and Republican voters, you know,
they have there there is a tendency in this in
this day and age, for Republican voters not to turn out,
(26:57):
you know, in off your elections in special elections the
way that they do in presidential years. So you know,
we'll have to we'll have to see about that. You know,
you mentioned that post about Alabama.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
I did.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
There's there's a little bit of a fight going on
right now in Alabama because Governor Ivy said that she
doesn't think there's enough time or the interest in calling
a special session to redraw their map. And there was
reference to a twenty twenty three Supreme Court decision in Milligan,
which went the other way. This the this new decision
appears to may possibly overrule an earlier decision where Alabama
(27:31):
was ordered to redraw and include a minority district extra
minority district. And now the Attorney general there is saying, no,
we're going we're going to We're going to do something.
So keep an eye on Alabama. We'll see where with
things where things go there. The other thing, too, John,
is you know, for these states in the southern states
(27:52):
that possibly could redraw their maps and gain Republican seats,
they have to be mindful of what's going on in
Virginia because Virginia's to be being reversed because of a
failure to adhere to the process we're doing for passing
and putting this on the ballot. And so you just
have to be clear that if you're you know, follow,
(28:12):
you have to follow the laws of your state in
terms of how the how the redraw has to happen.
Otherwise they're just of course, the other side's going to
end up with the court challenge.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Getting to the actual ruling.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Talking with a lawyer extraordinary, Jeff O'Brien, writing for the majority,
Justice Samuel Alito struck down Louisiana's congressional map, which included
two majority black districts, as an unconstitutional racial jerry mander.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
In the court's thirty six.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Page opinion, Alito emphasized that the Constitution almost never permits
the federal government or a state to discriminate on the
basis of race, framing the central question as whether compliance
with the Voting Rights Act justifies such outcome of such actions.
The ruling stops short of overturning Section two of the
(29:00):
Voting Right to Act, but it significantly restricts how states
can use race in redistricting, a shift that could weaken
a key mechanism for creating the majority minority districts. And
as they talked about earlier this hour, Jeff O'Brien, it's
interesting to me because this really seems like it was
(29:20):
a relic of the past. There may have been justification
initially to draw these maps this way because of a
disproportionate or a lack of representation in Congress, but that
it hasn't been that way for decades, and it seems
as if, in the most simplest terms, this is what
the Supreme Court said in this thirty six page ruling.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
Your thoughts on that, Yeah, that's a good point, John's
a very good point. And you know, you look at
this in light of the decision they had previously on
race based preferences in hiring and education. And you know,
one of the things with the Roberts Court, there have
been earlier rulings didn't that didn't go here, but there
(30:02):
have been there's been what we call dicta you know,
kind of these off hand comments, tangential comments made in
those earlier rulings where and I think it was the
Chief Justice writing the opinions, if I'm correct, suggesting that
there may come a time where some of these mechanisms
may become outdated, unnecessary, Meaning we were getting to the
end of the reasons why these were put in place
(30:24):
in the first place. And I think yesterday's ruling indicated expects,
at least with respect to UH to drawing of of
these maps legislated, these congressional maps, that we have reached
that point. That's what the Court is saying is that
we believe at this point this is not a factor
that needs to be considered any longer, and it needs
(30:45):
to it needs to be It needs to be discarded.
So I think I think that's a good point. I
think that's exactly what the court is saying, is this,
this was a mechanism that was needed at one time,
and we don't believe it's needed any.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Longer, you know, And it raises the question, and this is,
you know, something I opposed to earlier. But you know
how many other you know, how many other laws and
policies do we have in place that have major impacts on, say,
our election process in this in this regard that are
that we're also you know, the time is coming gone
for their initial justification. I'm more just throwing it out
(31:17):
there than actually looking for an answer. The first thing
that popped into my mind was, as I talked about earlier, Jeff,
the temporary protected status of individuals coming immigrating from other
countries because they were fleeing war that's ended a long
time ago, and yet we still had this in place.
I just I really like this idea right now that
we're examining these things that have been in place for
(31:38):
a long long time that simply are not relevant anymore.
This is a big one, and almost like we started
with a big one. But you know that there's got
to be a lot of other policies and laws in
place that we also need to start examining as relics
of the past and maybe make some needed changes.
Speaker 8 (31:55):
You know, that's a good point, show, and that's that's
why we have the Supreme Court, and that's why it's
you know, you see them when they will overturn a
long hand, a long standing decision, as they have a
numerous instances, and it's not just this court, it's been
you know, many many courts. That's part of their function
is to determine when something when the circumstances have changed
(32:18):
to the point that where the you know, the holding
in the earlier case was no longer what was not correct.
And we saw that with the low for Bright decision,
you know on the administrative agencies and the deference they get.
We saw that play out in the hearing this week.
The video that's going around with Lee Zeld and the
(32:40):
e p A, the head of e p A and
Rosa Delauo from Congress Wan from Connecticut and arguing over
climate change. And he said, and he brought it up,
you know, lower Bright doesn't allow us to be to
go beyond the bounds of our statute. And she had
kinds of like, well, you know exactly she didn't know
about the case. But that's a good example of it.
Is you know, some times things change and and and
(33:03):
in the course there to determine you know, you know
the role of the Constitution and what you know and
and and how you know, how the how we deal
with you know, those changes and when it's time to
overrule something that maybe at one time was relevant and
in terms of you know, other laws, you know, I
would say one thing here too, is you know, this
is the one shoe to drop. Uh, there's two. There's
(33:26):
a second case that hasn't They could have an impact
on the mid terms, perhaps even more than this case,
which is the r n C versus Watson case on
the counting ballots after election and the oral arguments in
that case certainly sounded like the Supreme Court was kind
of saying election day means election day, not election days, right,
(33:50):
And so if they if they issue a ruling that
curtails some of these states practices like Minnesota's in terms
of how you know, counting ballots after you know, you know,
midnight on the you know, an election day or mid
you know whatever, twelve oh, one that's going to have
(34:10):
an impact certainly, you know, if there's an impact on
mail in ballots and things like that, because you know,
one side, just like in this case, one side disproportionately
has benefited from some of those laws, and so that
that's the other one to watch. The other thing I
will say last and say, is I think that I
think I think everybody kind of saw that this opinion
(34:33):
was going to come out this way. There was some
speculation that they would hold it until the end of
the term just so that the states and the South
would not have enough time to redraw the maps. So
I think the surprise here was that they dropped it
at the end of April to give a lot of
those states plenty of time to react and adjust those
(34:56):
maps ahead of the midterms. And so now we have
to see where you know, the other the Watson case,
you know that one, if that one drops even on
the last day, there's still plenty of time to you know,
to you know, to change to change voting procedures before November.
So keep an eye on that one too. That's going
to be almost a significant, if not more significant.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
He is the lawyer extraordinaire of Jeff O'Brien. You can
follow him on x at. Jeff O'Brien as always a
great talking with you. Thanks for the inside, Jeff, and
we'll talk soon.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Thanks Don.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Good to a few of your thoughts from the iHeartRadio
app This morning, brought to you by Lyndahl Realty on
Twin City's News Talk.
Speaker 10 (35:36):
Good morning, john Rick and Virginia. The redrawing all these
congressional areas. You know, the Democrats have done this.
Speaker 12 (35:41):
For years and years and years.
Speaker 10 (35:42):
If you have any doubt, just look at states like Massachusetts, Maryland,
New York, California. This is what they've done. And when
we finally pushed back because we have a president has
a backbone, they stream murder too bad. Get over it.
The word democracy, it is so overused by the Democrats.
I didn't even think they know what it means. But
that's their outward. It's almost like stream it racist for
(36:04):
crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Well, and what has me is excited the right word
I want to use, Yeah, I'll use excited. What has
me excited is that we are now granted, you know,
the the the left, the Democrats are not going to
go quietly into the night on this.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
And I think I think we all realize that.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
But what has me excited is that we are now
at least in a position where, with these potential changes,
whether it's the Supreme Court ruling, the pending rulings being
able to early vote making, election day is just election
day and not election season. We are heading towards a
(36:48):
situation here where we could finally find out what the
true will of the voter is in this country. Because
so much of this has been gained, we don't really
know right now exactly how often Democrats would even win
(37:09):
elections because of how much gaming and jerrymandering in this
case has been going on.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Everything being fair.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
You want the possibility for the Democrat Party to actually
go back to the way that it used to be
when they were rational. Even though Republicans and Democrats disagreed
on hand to handle the issues of the day, there
was still some rational conversation going on. We've been talking
about how you cannot debate or rationalize with anyone on
(37:40):
the left right now.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
It's just not possible.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
And I don't see that changing, except for the fact
that if we do end up removing these relics of
the past and put together a voting system that is
absolutely as close as we possibly can representative of America
and isn't gained to go and benefit just one side.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Then we finally have the opportunity to.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
See, all right, let's see how many individuals there actually
are out there supporting how the Democrat Party is, and
if they're not able to go and gain power because
of these changes in our election process, that is to
their own demise if they don't go and change course
to go back to being rational and using common sense. Again,
(38:29):
that's the part of this whole thing that has me
excited because we have not been in a position that
we are in right now for that to happen.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
Good morning, John. I believe this is a good lesson.
In Actions have consequences, and when the Dems try to
do stupid things that are against their own states constitution
and then have a federal judgment against them, actions have consequences.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
They have what's called that Trump derangedrint problem.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Have you heard about that problem?
I think we're going to be releasing as much as
we can in the near future for some reason, and
I guess.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's just a reason.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's been in the minds.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Of people for a long time, and that is such
they want to find out about the UFOs and anything
having to do with UFO or related material, and we're
going to be releasing a.
Speaker 4 (00:21):
Lot of things from that we have, and I think
it's going to be very interesting to people.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
I've interviewed people my first term primarily, but I interviewed
some pilots, very solid people, and they said they saw
things that you wouldn't believe.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
So you're going to be reading about it.
Speaker 5 (00:38):
Yeah, Oh, Ye're crazy?
Speaker 6 (00:39):
Am I?
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
Is it possible? Is it?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Or is it so possible that your head is spinning
like a top.
Speaker 7 (00:53):
It can't be or is your entire world just crashing down?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That son?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, and I.
Speaker 8 (01:02):
Love your show.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
We'll talk about this in just a moment here on
Twin Cities News Talk, President Donald Trump confirming he's releasing
UFO files and it's about to get doing that thing
with my fingers interesting.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
But that also applies to the.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Show today, Twin Cities News Talk In case you didn't know,
AM eleven thirty one three five FM streaming all over
the world via the iHeartRadio app. I wonder where our
farthest listener on.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
The app is today. If you think.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
That you are listening from the greatest distance from the
Twin Cities this morning, drop me a talk back. I
have nothing to give you. I'm just curious. On the
show today, huge Scotus news yesterday as the Democrats start
(02:04):
to flip out, We'll get into the ruling which could
could hand the Republicans' victories in the mid terms. Despite
it being an off presidential year, Florida is already changing
their maps. We're going to get you up to speed
(02:25):
on that. Our lawyer extraordinaire who was one of the
first to reach out to me yesterday in the wake
of the bombshell Scotis decision. He'll be joining us at
six point thirty this morning, a lawyer Chordinair Jeff O'Brien
to share his thoughts.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
The charges have been dropped on the.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Three the trio of Jackwagons known as the Astrushkos who
assaulted Savannah Hernandez. That's right, the ej charges yesterday for
assaulting the Turning Point USA reporter outside of the Whipple Building.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Actually it happened faster than I thought.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
These things typically move slowly, so we'll give you details
on that. Just after seven o'clock. Oh, a war of
words between the Vice President and Governor Dim Walls. More
pushback of Walls attempting to take credit for the fraud
and HSI raids in Minneapolis earlier this week. The new
(03:27):
fight for minimum wage is going up. I predicted this
years ago. I'm gonna I'm absolutely gonna brag. I'm totally
gonna take credit. But I said during the what at
the time was the ridiculous fight for fifteen, It's like,
why bother stopping and fighting for fifteen? This is just
going to go up? Why not fight for twenty? Why
(03:48):
not thirty? Well it's happened predictably, so so we'll get
into details of that just after a seven thirty c More.
Congressional candidate Paul Wistrom will join in just after eight o'clock,
and then I have a I have a handful of stuff,
evergreen stories I haven't had a chance to dive into
(04:11):
yet this week, so hesitant to go and say exactly
what we'll get to just depending on how the rest
of the show rolls out this morning. And as always,
the want to hear from you. You can email, you
can drop a talk back. We'll talk more about that
in a moment. Already a few of your comments have
rolled into the IHEARTRA Radio app.
Speaker 9 (04:30):
Good morning, John, friend of the show, Holly and Blaine.
Just wanted to say that two of my boys and
I went and saw Project Hail Mary last night and
I have to agree it was a most excellent and well,
yeah that is thanks for the heads up on that one.
Have a great day.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah, it kind of thumbs up to from the only
as far as I know, the only Freedom Friday. Frequent
guest host on the show, Grace Keating, who will be
in tomorrow with Catherine Johnson. No ak tomorrow. He has
other plans. It's going to go talk to somebody else
on a podcast, and I guess John Justice Show isn't
(05:05):
good enough for him.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Thank you that No, it's all good.
Speaker 6 (05:08):
No.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So we have both of the hosts of the American
Experiment podcast in tomorrow along with with MaTx Rimmer. But
she also gave the thumbs up to Project Hail Mary
speaking of aliens. We played that audio a moment ago
during all oval office visit President Donald Trump saying that
(05:30):
he will be releasing as much as they can in
the near future. Regarding UFOs, I've interviewed people my first term,
primarily interviewed some pilots, some very solid people. Listen, I'm
curious about this. I want to see everything released, keeping
a trying to keep an open mind. Whether these are
in a little green or gray men from deep space
(05:51):
or you know, more like trans trans beings, not trans
beings that we I'm missing the I'm missing the attachment
to it. I want to say transdimensional. Interdimensional, that's the
word I'm looking for. Holy cow, you're fascinating to talking
transdimensional works too, but interdimensional. If you saw Indiana Jones
and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at this point, if
(06:13):
the information is going to come out this year, just
wait until we get closer to June. Steven Spielberg's new movie, Disclosure,
is all about disclosure of aliens. It's his return into
talking about aliens previously close encounters in the et of course,
So I just let's just make it a big, huge,
just you know, all encapsulating moment.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
We'll get the movie.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Fictionalizing the disclosure of aliens UFOs. At the same time,
we can get the presidents releasing all the government information
regarding UFOs. I think it would make for a fantastic
start to the summer.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
All right, well, you.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Know what I'm about six degrees. Actually I have less
than six degree separate. I have one one degree of
separation between myself and President Donald Trump with Pete access.
So I'll I'll text Pete later on today and say, hey,
tell Trump to wait, wait until we get closer to
Steven Spielberg's disclosure before we start releasing all of the
UFO information. By the way, did you hear just I
(07:15):
just was thinking of technology and UFOs. Did you hear
this myth that if you put a coin on your
Wi Fi router it actually helps your Wi Fi signal
in your home? Yeah, people are stacking like coins on
top of their WiFi router to boost their Internet speed.
I'll talk a little bit about this coming up in
(07:36):
just a moment. I found an article on it, and
I'll just leave it out there. And I'm just surprised
people sill have coins.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
That's a very good point I don't think cop I don't.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, well, pennies are gone, but yeah, they're using you know,
they're using nickels and dimes and quarters. I had never
heard this before. So well, we'll share some details and
well also hear from you in the iHeartRadio app. As
I mentioned, you can email just Is at iHeartRadio uh
dot com or leave a talkback. Those are brought to
you by Lyndahl Realty. You know, I asked a moment ago,
(08:07):
who was listening? Who's who's listening from the from the
farthest distance from the Twin Cities this morning?
Speaker 10 (08:14):
Well talking about greatest distance?
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Uh, well, listening to the show would have been cool.
If you should have got a shout out.
Speaker 10 (08:21):
On the.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
That would have been cool. I don't know how that
would have happened. I didn't.
Speaker 11 (08:29):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I don't know anybody on the Artemis to mission. And
I mean, my show is popular, but it's not that
famous to where they would have.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Heard about it.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
But I do agree that would have been That would
have been cool.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Hey, John, I'm about the Blow your Mind. I have
Eric from Blow my Mind.
Speaker 10 (08:46):
Yeah, somebody was right next to the station where you're
at right, they are.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Both the closest and the furthest from you at the
same time, depending on which way you go from where they're.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
Think about that one. I did, I did.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
I just thought about it, and it's it's a it's
a rather clever way to look at it. I mean,
technically speaking, there they still be right there. You know,
we're talking semantics here. I'm looking for physical distance. And
so we'll see if any we have any takers. Coming
up on Twin Cities News Talk, we will get to
the Supreme Court decision what it means for the midterms,
(09:22):
and our guest lawyer extraordinair Jeff O'Brien at six thirty.
Glad you're with the show for a Thursday morning here
on Twin Cities News Talk AM eleven thirty and What
three five FM and Twin Cities News Talk and Guaranteed Human.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
Transin Jog. Yeah, well, I guess they're already here.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
You solve it.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I said, well, you know, that's what I try to
do on the show.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Unfortunately Rich I couldn't hear Rich in his talkback, so
he's down in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
We were asking who is the farthest away right now?
Listening to Twin City's News Talk. Hey John, this is Alex.
Speaker 11 (10:09):
Hey Alex driving in Florida, the truck driver, just listening
to your show. Just want to say you're an awesome guy.
Oh God bless you later.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Thanks sir, God bless you as well. You'll have to
be more specific because as to where in Florida you're listening,
because you're in competition here.
Speaker 8 (10:30):
Tom and Tampa listening from down here for almost five years.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I guess it depends on truly long state and I
know people people realize that, so this may be the
furthest though today listening to the show.
Speaker 7 (10:44):
Good morning, John, Alex elk River. I'm coming to you
from Normandy, France, where I'm on a World War eleven
tour Amaha beach.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Oh sewitty what what he did there?
Speaker 4 (11:01):
That's good, It's good this morning.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
It is Twin City's News TALKINGAM eleven thirty and one
oh three five FM. Thank you for the comments via
the iHeartRadio app brought to you by Lindahl Realty. You've
probably seen according to this article I have here in
front of me, I hadn't.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
The viral coin trick for faster Wi Fi.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
They do ask the question, but what it actually does
to your router is something that nobody talks about. So
this is a viral home networking tip that claims placing
a common coin on top of a wireless router can
boost the Internet speed and stability. It's once again detraction
(11:42):
across social media platforms. Network specialists published technical guidelines, however,
say that the practice, oh sad has no measurable effect
on signal performance and may actually damage the equipment over time.
What if you ball up like tinfoil and just like
set it on top me turn it into like a
tower with I don't think I don't know how any
(12:04):
of this works.
Speaker 6 (12:06):
As somebody that works for an Internet company when it
comes to these coin bes save tennis for Wi Fi owns,
please do not put that off in the world. That's
just going to make sure way more trouble cause from
the random people.
Speaker 11 (12:20):
Again.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
The technique recently appeared in technology forms and short form
video content. It holds that the metallic properties of a
coin can actually can act as a supplementary antenna or heat.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Dissipator for the device.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
It is an appealing idea household object freely available supposedly
on Locke's of Better connectivity without any software configuration or
an expensive hardware upgrade. Multiple technology experts, though, examined the
claim and found that neither justification holds up to any
scrutiny whatsoever any perceived improvement, and the performance is more
(13:03):
a plausibly tied to normal network fluctuations than the presence
of a coin. The Tricks Resurgence shows how stubbornly technological
miscon circulate kept alive by anecdotal reports and a hazy
understanding of the wireless communications.
Speaker 6 (13:26):
No, just no, just just no. Stacking Teddy's on top
of your wireless Robert as a makeshift antenna is not
going to help your wife by signal cattle. It probably
will holdly heard it.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, yeah, you know you figure listen, if something like
that actually went and worked, Okay, if something like that
actually went.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
And worked, somebody would already have come up.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
With something that could be sold in the store that
you can just place on top of your you know,
by this special metal you know, has the same materials
as the coins, and you can send it on top
of your WiFi routers.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 8 (14:06):
Do.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I do laugh though, because it talks about the Tricks
Resurgence shows how stubbornly miscon circulate, kept alive by anecdotal
reports and a hazy understanding of whatever.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
How many how.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Much of that just applies to what we talk about
on the show.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
On a daily basis.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
For crying for crying out loud, right, thank you though
for the for the inside, I greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (14:29):
Oh, between freaking out over the Scotis decision, yeah, and
the Southern poverty laws and stuff. Man, these racist Democrats
are really having a hect of a year.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
They really are.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
We're gonna talk more about this with lawyer extraordinaire Jeff
O'Brien in just a moment here on Twin Cities News Talk.
Florida Republicans also passed a new congressional map that could
eliminate up to four Democrat held seats, potentially flipping districts
in Tampa, Orlando in South Florida.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Oh hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
The map is expected to be signed by Governor DeSantis,
and it does reflect Florida's political shifted to the right.
In alliance with the recent Supreme Court ruling that we'll
talk about next limiting the use of race and redistricting.
The new map is likely to face legal challenges due
to the state and constitutional provision barring partisan jerrymandering. I'll
(15:24):
be asking a question two when we talk with Jeff O'Brien,
because the Supreme Court ruling yesterday is a is probably
one of the biggest examples as of late of relics
of the past in terms of laws and the rationale
for those laws when they were first implemented, and yet
they're no longer relevant to modern day. When these law,
(15:51):
when these lines were initially drawn, this was about bringing
fairness in these particular areas where in the argument was
that people of color were disproportionately disenfranchised from the voting
process and representation in Congress. Well, this just isn't the
case anymore. It hasn't been the case for decades, and
(16:14):
it's partly what the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, which again,
in my mind, raises the question of what other relics
of the past do we need to look at changing
because they're no longer relevant. The first one that popped
into my head was the temporary protect the status that
Trump went and attempted to remove for individuals that were
coming to the country using the excuse that they were
fleeing a war torn region. So that's another good example. Oh,
(16:38):
health insurance having to be tied to your employment. The
rationale for that has fallen by the wayside too. So
if you have any that you'd like to add laws
that are essentially relics of the past, feel free to
leave a talkbacker. You can email Justice at iHeartRadio dot com.
The Supreme Court ruling has, however, cracked open a redistricting
(17:00):
war and Republicans see a path to power.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Oh hell yeah, we will talk with our lawyer. Extrad
and air Jeff O'Brien.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Next here on Twin City's News Talk Am eleven thirty
and one h three five FM begun the crash out
over the Supreme Court ruling states cannot consider race when
drawing congressional maps, limiting the use of the voting rights
(17:31):
to act in redistricting. This is a clip from MS
Now yesterday. Here on Twin City's News Talk.
Speaker 12 (17:39):
Leah, what do you see as the ripple effects? Are
there other states that could now redraw their maps that
you think are going to be likely to do so?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
It's very possible.
Speaker 13 (17:51):
So one expert on voting rights, Professor Nick Stephanopolis at
Harvard Law School, actually estimated that a ruling to this
effect in Louisiana versus Cala could effect up to potentially
fifty legislative districts.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
I start to say all of.
Speaker 13 (18:07):
Those states might redraw their districts so close to the
midterm elections, but that does underscore what a significant effect
this ruling will have on our democracy and who is
able to obtain political power. So Florida, we know, has
expressed interest in potentially doing some redistricting. Their initial plan
(18:29):
for when they were going to do so was pushed
back when we didn't have this decision last week. But
my guess is they will get that process started now,
and it's possible other states will follow. It's possible the
President will invite other states to do more redistricting, like
he did when he invited them to do more partisan
redistricting last year. So it remains to be seen exactly
(18:51):
how many states might scramble to try to affect the
upcoming midterm elections.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
But I think it's all but.
Speaker 13 (18:57):
A certainty that many states will you draw the districts
within the next few years and certainly after the next
redistricting cycle in ways that will make it so much
harder for voters of color to actually select the candidates
of their choice.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
All right, so.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
For some experts analysis, we go to our lawyer extraordinaiy
in Well, I guess not in house either way.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
You are the lawyer extraordinaire.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Jeff O'Brien joins us this morning here on Twin Cities
News Talk. So you've had some time to sit on this, Jeff,
where is your where's your head at on what kind
of impact this is going to end up having, specifically
between now and the midterms later this year.
Speaker 8 (19:43):
Well, thanks for having me on, John, And you know,
just based on some of the actions of some of
the states affected by this, I would say, you know,
like you said earlier, might have an impact. I think
Mike is the key word here. It is early. You know,
the clip that you played and someone's had impact on
(20:04):
fifty seats. I think that's high. The number I keep
hearing is particularly there's twelve congressional seats in the Southern
States that are probably at issue here and could be
you know, those states are more likely to redraw maps.
(20:27):
I've seen some chatter about some saying that other states,
there may be some other districts that were drawn based
on race. And there may be some and they might
be in like the Blue states, and so those would
have to come with additional court challenges based on yesterday's ruling,
So you know, it's certainly going to have an impact.
And you know, Flora yesterday passed a new map that
(20:49):
I think adds basically swings four seats into the more
republican and they had already started that that was in
response to the Virginia the referendum, and that one is
now on hold with the Virginia Supreme Court, and based
on a preliminary ruling when they turned down a motion
(21:10):
from the Attorney general to he wanted to allow the
certification to go ahead and they said no. So that's
looking like it's going to be reversed. And then on
top of that you have this decision. I know that Mississippi,
at the governor there had already called a special sex,
a special session in anticipation of this ruling coming, and
(21:30):
so Mississippi is likely to go. I think Missouri might
be another one, moving to basically have an all Republican
all Republican districts. And I know Marshall Blackburn, the US
Senator from Tennessee, was pushing her state to to redraw
the lines to do the same thing there. So I
think there's going to be some movements, and then of
(21:51):
course I think you're gonna have you know, and I
know that there was also some talk about some of
the Blue states, you know, maybe retaliating doing something more
of what Virginia or California did, But if you look
at the numbers, and a lot of those states have
already drawn those districts to the point where there are
no Republican seats. So I don't know how much that
(22:13):
in Illinois or a California can do at this point
to have a measurable impact. And of course here in Minnesota,
with the House being divided fifty to fifty, there isn't
going to be any sort of retaliatory map or anything
like that done before the midterms, so, you know, and
there could be there's going to be court challenges from
(22:35):
from from one from probably from the Democrat Democrat side.
I mean, you're not just going to roll over and
you know, take it. So we'll see how how many
of these changes get in, you know, implemented before the midterms.
I did see just you know, a few minutes ago,
Jeff Landry Governor of Louisiana. This is an x is
(22:56):
suspending the primary so that the maps can be redrawn
in the Louisiana per the court decision.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Well, there was a post that was put out yesterday
at US Ronald A. Carter, and I just want to
kind of and it dovetails nicely into what you just said.
They're talking with lawyer extraordinair, Jeff O'Brien. Democrats don't have
a House majority without those.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Court ordered maps.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
A dozen of their current seats set in districts that
only exist because federal courts forced states to draw them Louisiana,
as you mentioned, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, everyone
has at least one Democrat seat in a court created
by a black majority district.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
The House margin is four seats.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
This coat has just made at twelve other two hundred
and thirteen seats legally redrawable. And there's a little bit
more here, but let me add something to this that
larger number, And I kind of want to put this
in the back of everybody's mind. When people talk about
the number of affected seats and you hear these double
digit numbers, I think what a lot of people are
confusing is it's not all Republican. The Democrats do in
(24:03):
some states have the opportunity to have some districts that
actually go in their favor. It's just that Republicans have
an abundance more that can go in their favor than Democrats.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
I think, go ahead, Yeah, I think I think that's correct.
And also, you know, part of you know, the Florida
actions yesterday which had nothing which were already in you know,
underway before the court decision. And some might question, why
would you know, because why is it okay and in
Florida but not in say, Virginia. Florida's basis for why
(24:37):
they were redrawing boundaries has to goes back to the
incorrect count allegedly in the twenty twenty census, where states
like Florida were undercounted and states that you know, you
consider blue states were overcounted, and so they're seeking to
read draw boundaries to you know, provide some additional fairness
(24:58):
in their minds, to you know, even things out saying
that we would have had more more seats and probably
more Republican seats have the census been done accurately or
completed accurately. So that's part of what and I think
Texas had that was part of their issue too. There
was some reason why, you know, there was some sort
of a statistical inaccuracy as to why they initially started
(25:19):
doing this, and then of course then then you had everything.
Then the fight was on on the other side too.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
There was an interesting line in this post. It said
Republican led legislators don't need new voters, they need a
redistricting committee and a Tuesday afternoon. Now, obviously you still
have to have people go out and vote, but the
point being.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
Is, you know, typically people go out and vote. So
because people go.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Out and vote, the redistricting really does just mean that
you just need to make sure that you do the
proper redistricting. And to what you said a moment ago,
and then we can move on to some of the
aspects of this. I have some talkbacks that rolled into it. Says,
if race based districts are unconstantutional, then Louisiana redraws. If
Louisiana redraws, then Alabama redraws. If Alabama redraws, then every
(26:07):
Southern state redraws. If every Southern state redraws. The Democrat
House majority was a sixty year courtroom artifact not an
election result, and they said, that's what nobody is saying
out loud. And they even go so far as to say,
and I think this is a putting.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
The cart a bit before the horse.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
But they say, the twenty twenty six midterms were just
decided six three six months before election day. That seems
a bit premature. But what do you think, Jeff?
Speaker 8 (26:37):
Yeah, you know, you still have to go out and vote.
And you know, the Democrats and their supporters are definitely motivated.
You know, we've seen that so and Republican voters, you know,
they have there there is a tendency in this in
this day and age, for Republican voters not to turn out,
(26:57):
you know, in off your elections in special elections the
way that they do in presidential years. So you know,
we'll have to we'll have to see about that. You know,
you mentioned that post about Alabama.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
I did.
Speaker 8 (27:07):
There's there's a little bit of a fight going on
right now in Alabama because Governor Ivy said that she
doesn't think there's enough time or the interest in calling
a special session to redraw their map. And there was
reference to a twenty twenty three Supreme Court decision in Milligan,
which went the other way. This the this new decision
appears to may possibly overrule an earlier decision where Alabama
(27:31):
was ordered to redraw and include a minority district extra
minority district. And now the Attorney general there is saying, no,
we're going we're going to We're going to do something.
So keep an eye on Alabama. We'll see where with
things where things go there. The other thing, too, John,
is you know, for these states in the southern states
(27:52):
that possibly could redraw their maps and gain Republican seats,
they have to be mindful of what's going on in
Virginia because Virginia's to be being reversed because of a
failure to adhere to the process we're doing for passing
and putting this on the ballot. And so you just
have to be clear that if you're you know, follow,
(28:12):
you have to follow the laws of your state in
terms of how the how the redraw has to happen.
Otherwise they're just of course, the other side's going to
end up with the court challenge.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
Getting to the actual ruling.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Talking with a lawyer extraordinary, Jeff O'Brien, writing for the majority,
Justice Samuel Alito struck down Louisiana's congressional map, which included
two majority black districts, as an unconstitutional racial jerry mander.
Speaker 4 (28:38):
In the court's thirty six.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Page opinion, Alito emphasized that the Constitution almost never permits
the federal government or a state to discriminate on the
basis of race, framing the central question as whether compliance
with the Voting Rights Act justifies such outcome of such actions.
The ruling stops short of overturning Section two of the
(29:00):
Voting Right to Act, but it significantly restricts how states
can use race in redistricting, a shift that could weaken
a key mechanism for creating the majority minority districts. And
as they talked about earlier this hour, Jeff O'Brien, it's
interesting to me because this really seems like it was
(29:20):
a relic of the past. There may have been justification
initially to draw these maps this way because of a
disproportionate or a lack of representation in Congress, but that
it hasn't been that way for decades, and it seems
as if, in the most simplest terms, this is what
the Supreme Court said in this thirty six page ruling.
Speaker 8 (29:42):
Your thoughts on that, Yeah, that's a good point, John's
a very good point. And you know, you look at
this in light of the decision they had previously on
race based preferences in hiring and education. And you know,
one of the things with the Roberts Court, there have
been earlier rulings didn't that didn't go here, but there
(30:02):
have been there's been what we call dicta you know,
kind of these off hand comments, tangential comments made in
those earlier rulings where and I think it was the
Chief Justice writing the opinions, if I'm correct, suggesting that
there may come a time where some of these mechanisms
may become outdated, unnecessary, Meaning we were getting to the
end of the reasons why these were put in place
(30:24):
in the first place. And I think yesterday's ruling indicated expects,
at least with respect to UH to drawing of of
these maps legislated, these congressional maps, that we have reached
that point. That's what the Court is saying is that
we believe at this point this is not a factor
that needs to be considered any longer, and it needs
(30:45):
to it needs to be It needs to be discarded.
So I think I think that's a good point. I
think that's exactly what the court is saying, is this,
this was a mechanism that was needed at one time,
and we don't believe it's needed any.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Longer, you know, And it raises the question, and this is,
you know, something I opposed to earlier. But you know
how many other you know, how many other laws and
policies do we have in place that have major impacts on, say,
our election process in this in this regard that are
that we're also you know, the time is coming gone
for their initial justification. I'm more just throwing it out
(31:17):
there than actually looking for an answer. The first thing
that popped into my mind was, as I talked about earlier, Jeff,
the temporary protected status of individuals coming immigrating from other
countries because they were fleeing war that's ended a long
time ago, and yet we still had this in place.
I just I really like this idea right now that
we're examining these things that have been in place for
(31:38):
a long long time that simply are not relevant anymore.
This is a big one, and almost like we started
with a big one. But you know that there's got
to be a lot of other policies and laws in
place that we also need to start examining as relics
of the past and maybe make some needed changes.
Speaker 8 (31:55):
You know, that's a good point, show, and that's that's
why we have the Supreme Court, and that's why it's
you know, you see them when they will overturn a
long hand, a long standing decision, as they have a
numerous instances, and it's not just this court, it's been
you know, many many courts. That's part of their function
is to determine when something when the circumstances have changed
(32:18):
to the point that where the you know, the holding
in the earlier case was no longer what was not correct.
And we saw that with the low for Bright decision,
you know on the administrative agencies and the deference they get.
We saw that play out in the hearing this week.
The video that's going around with Lee Zeld and the
(32:40):
e p A, the head of e p A and
Rosa Delauo from Congress Wan from Connecticut and arguing over
climate change. And he said, and he brought it up,
you know, lower Bright doesn't allow us to be to
go beyond the bounds of our statute. And she had
kinds of like, well, you know exactly she didn't know
about the case. But that's a good example of it.
Is you know, some times things change and and and
(33:03):
in the course there to determine you know, you know
the role of the Constitution and what you know and
and and how you know, how the how we deal
with you know, those changes and when it's time to
overrule something that maybe at one time was relevant and
in terms of you know, other laws, you know, I
would say one thing here too, is you know, this
is the one shoe to drop. Uh, there's two. There's
(33:26):
a second case that hasn't They could have an impact
on the mid terms, perhaps even more than this case,
which is the r n C versus Watson case on
the counting ballots after election and the oral arguments in
that case certainly sounded like the Supreme Court was kind
of saying election day means election day, not election days, right,
(33:50):
And so if they if they issue a ruling that
curtails some of these states practices like Minnesota's in terms
of how you know, counting ballots after you know, you know,
midnight on the you know, an election day or mid
you know whatever, twelve oh, one that's going to have
(34:10):
an impact certainly, you know, if there's an impact on
mail in ballots and things like that, because you know,
one side, just like in this case, one side disproportionately
has benefited from some of those laws, and so that
that's the other one to watch. The other thing I
will say last and say, is I think that I
think I think everybody kind of saw that this opinion
(34:33):
was going to come out this way. There was some
speculation that they would hold it until the end of
the term just so that the states and the South
would not have enough time to redraw the maps. So
I think the surprise here was that they dropped it
at the end of April to give a lot of
those states plenty of time to react and adjust those
(34:56):
maps ahead of the midterms. And so now we have
to see where you know, the other the Watson case,
you know that one, if that one drops even on
the last day, there's still plenty of time to you know,
to you know, to change to change voting procedures before November.
So keep an eye on that one too. That's going
to be almost a significant, if not more significant.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
He is the lawyer extraordinaire of Jeff O'Brien. You can
follow him on x at. Jeff O'Brien as always a
great talking with you. Thanks for the inside, Jeff, and
we'll talk soon.
Speaker 5 (35:28):
Thanks Don.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Good to a few of your thoughts from the iHeartRadio
app This morning, brought to you by Lyndahl Realty on
Twin City's News Talk.
Speaker 10 (35:36):
Good morning, john Rick and Virginia. The redrawing all these
congressional areas. You know, the Democrats have done this.
Speaker 12 (35:41):
For years and years and years.
Speaker 10 (35:42):
If you have any doubt, just look at states like Massachusetts, Maryland,
New York, California. This is what they've done. And when
we finally pushed back because we have a president has
a backbone, they stream murder too bad. Get over it.
The word democracy, it is so overused by the Democrats.
I didn't even think they know what it means. But
that's their outward. It's almost like stream it racist for
(36:04):
crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Well, and what has me is excited the right word
I want to use, Yeah, I'll use excited. What has
me excited is that we are now granted, you know,
the the the left, the Democrats are not going to
go quietly into the night on this.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
And I think I think we all realize that.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
But what has me excited is that we are now
at least in a position where, with these potential changes,
whether it's the Supreme Court ruling, the pending rulings being
able to early vote making, election day is just election
day and not election season. We are heading towards a
(36:48):
situation here where we could finally find out what the
true will of the voter is in this country. Because
so much of this has been gained, we don't really
know right now exactly how often Democrats would even win
(37:09):
elections because of how much gaming and jerrymandering in this
case has been going on.
Speaker 4 (37:17):
Everything being fair.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
You want the possibility for the Democrat Party to actually
go back to the way that it used to be
when they were rational. Even though Republicans and Democrats disagreed
on hand to handle the issues of the day, there
was still some rational conversation going on. We've been talking
about how you cannot debate or rationalize with anyone on
(37:40):
the left right now.
Speaker 4 (37:41):
It's just not possible.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
And I don't see that changing, except for the fact
that if we do end up removing these relics of
the past and put together a voting system that is
absolutely as close as we possibly can representative of America
and isn't gained to go and benefit just one side.
Speaker 4 (38:05):
Then we finally have the opportunity to.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
See, all right, let's see how many individuals there actually
are out there supporting how the Democrat Party is, and
if they're not able to go and gain power because
of these changes in our election process, that is to
their own demise if they don't go and change course
to go back to being rational and using common sense. Again,
(38:29):
that's the part of this whole thing that has me
excited because we have not been in a position that
we are in right now for that to happen.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
Good morning, John. I believe this is a good lesson.
In Actions have consequences, and when the Dems try to
do stupid things that are against their own states constitution
and then have a federal judgment against them, actions have consequences.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
They have what's called that Trump derangedrint problem.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
Have you heard about that problem?
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.