this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
586 points (99.2% liked)

News

31456 readers
4512 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Texas Republicans have voted to track down and arrest dozens of Democratic legislators who have fled the state to block passage of a partisan redistricting plan.

The vote passed by 85 to 6, following Republican Governor Greg Abbott's threat of bribery charges against the absent Democrats.

After the vote, the governor ordered state troopers "to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans".

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago

Gregg Abbott is un-American because he refuses to stand for the national anthem. And I also hear he’s a little piss baby.

[–] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Isn't this why they left the state in the first place? I fully expect Trump to employ ICE to track them down and bring them back, though and regardless of how illegal that is.

[–] TotalCourage007@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

this just in, fascists don't like their own methods! Lmao bunch of wusses.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 98 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

After the vote, the governor ordered state troopers "to locate, arrest, and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans".

So which trooper is going to be brave enough to follow the governor’s orders and arrest him?

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 54 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Has Rafael fled to Cancun yet?

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 11 points 3 days ago

as the zodiac killer, he also possess the ability to shapeshift, and travel at great speeds to a tropical environment.

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 35 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Yes arrest them for not helping subvert democracy to keep an illegitimate fascist in power. "States rights", party of "freedom", my ass. Bunch of nazi clowns.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago

Seems like the governor told the troopers to arrest people like the governor.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 57 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Wow there’s no way the American people will stand for this.

lol j/k of course they will.

[–] WindyRebel@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Is this an appropriate time to say that not even Abbott stands for it?

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] bookmeat@lemmynsfw.com 36 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How is the vote legitimate if there's no quorum?

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 9 points 2 days ago

The rules specifically allow for either voting to adjourn and voting to arrest no attending members

[–] Dorkyd68@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago

This dude wants to talk about duty to Texans? Wow man

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 31 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Didn't this exact same thing happen some years ago? Dems went on the lam and were found in a hotel across the state line a few days later.

Edit: found it, 2021. https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/special-session/texas-democrats-leave-state-redistricting-quorum/269-6919f7c5-ec57-49a6-bc3a-ad7cf84aa683

[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago

Also in 2003. In fact, that time was due to the GOP doing the same redistricting shit they're doing now!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] mercano@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How did they vote on this if they don’t have a quorum?

[–] IHeartBadCode@fedia.io 29 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Rule 8, Section 5.

All absentees for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found, by the sergeant-at-arms or an officer appointed by the sergeant-at-arms for that purpose, and their attendance shall be secured and retained.

And

Until a quorum appears, should the roll call fail to show one present, no business shall be transacted, except to compel the attendance of absent members or to adjourn. It shall not be in order to recess under a call of the house.

It does not require a quorum, it is a measure voted on by those present. This is the same thing in lots of State legislatures including the US House. There's usually a rule that allows whoever is present to be able to bring a motion to those present to force those who are not present to the floor. It's usually one of a handful of motions that don't require quorum.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 9 points 3 days ago

That language suggests that the only thing they can do is either order the "arrests" or adjourn, making the headline much less impressive...

[–] boaratio@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Eat shit, fuckers.

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What does arresting Democrats have to due with duty to Texans ?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] N0body@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The beauty of the 300-year-old American federalist system is that states enjoy a wide range of special rights to be ultimately determined by the current makeup of the Supreme Court with absolutely no checks on their power. Supreme Court Justices are lifetime appointees who can be bribed publicly and are free to lie about it, and there is no mechanism to question their ethics or remove them from their positions outside of a full impeachment like with Trump.

The state supreme courts have a good deal of power, but only to the extent that the federal Supreme Court doesn’t take it away. I can’t imagine a more fertile ground for fascism to be experimented upon legally if people of conscience do nothing.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

There are checks built in. The fascists just control all of them.

Multiple justices should not have been confirmed. At least one should absolutely, 1000% been impeached (by Congress), regardless of party. The justices should be checking the president. Respect for the rule of law should be putting a stop to most of this.

We have voted for Team Fascists because we've decided team colors are more important than principles.

Congrats. You're gonna turn your 100 billion dollars into 300 billion dollars and it'll be worth 600 billion rubles. All the numbers are bigger, just like you wanted. Good fucking work. Maybe you should have considered that 3 years ago 600 billion rubles were worth 8 billion dollars.

You've played yourself (and the rest of us with you).

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Luouth@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Wouldn't it just have been easier to say - "we vote to say an absentee vote is counted as a 'for'"? No, no, they must show that they are a fascist dictatorship in the strongest way possible 'cus - 'Murica!!!

[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The law there allows the redistricting to happen if there is a majority vote for redistricting. The law also requires at least 2/3 of members to be present to actually hold a vote. So, this is a tactic that can be used by the minority party to avoid a vote happening at all.

Its a weird law. The democrats have only taken advantage of it a few times and, so far, only for votes relating to redistricting or vote suppression. They did this twice in 2003, once in 2021, and again now. All to stop redistricting or voter suppression votes.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›