The man who testified for redistricting was no “gentleman”. I sat next to him and turned to introduce myself - he was aggressively hostile. I’m as neutral looking and pleasant as can be. When I walked out my very neutral friend said hi to him and he was hostile to her as well. He came there looking for a fight. It was shocking that he called himself a chaplain - more like a hostile drill sergeant. Bitter angry man. And kept saying he was a historian and either purposefully rewriting or misrepresenting history.
Otherwise, the evening was filled with amazing testimony and passionate informed citizens. I slept well last night with the knowledge that my fellow democracy and freedom loving neighbors are ON it.
I was there, registered to testify shortly after 4pm and wasn’t called. Guess they know who I am and wanted to make sure I was silenced. Only 1 person was able to testify from Irving and that was only by accident when they called Kay Parr who by 10pm had to get home on Monday night driving all the way back to Parker County. I have no doubt they are ensuring I am gerrymandered out of CD 6 cause I called out Jake Ellzey to his face about putting grandmothers in Navarro County on the street and got him on film saying it would never happen. But then he voted for the Big Bad Bill and said fuck you to all the Title I schools kids in Navarro County. I stood up for Navarro County and I don’t even live there! But there is no way the Republicans will let me and Kelly Blackburn continue to make Irving, Ellis County and Mansfield bluer. They probably got the directive from Tim Dunn to make sure I am silenced.
So yeah it is fucking personal now. I did have 22 copies of my testimony and submitted it, handing two copies directly to Rep Garcia and Hernandez and Rep Terry Meza, two of the 3 Irving reps who stayed all night for the hearing as our city is already a gerrymandered mess of a pinwheel. But no one stood up for the AAPI voters in my city being gerrymandered out of CD 33, the Muslim voters in my city silenced in CD 6 and the democratic country club precinct of Hackberry silenced just because Beth VanDuyne’s parents live in her old house (who the fuck knows where she lives now). All 77 Irving precincts, silenced. The minority majority city of 260,000 silenced.
The speeches were uplifting and we got a long town hall with Chairman Wu outside with the Tarrant County young Dems. The ones I was going to shout out in my testimony who defeated Tim Dunn in Keller, Mansfield and Irving. That is the way it goes.
I was there in the lobby at the Hereford Center at UTA. There were at least the same number closed out of the hearing in the lobby as there were inside, I reckon. I asked one of the aides if they were going to open an overflow room. He said no. And he directed me to the House's livestream of the meeting. (I could have done that at home).
I did stay in the lobby for about an hour listening to the livestream and watching the crowd. I am almost positive no one in the lobby was for redistricting. I heard (through the lobby din) the opening testimony into the the mid-testimony on my phone. Royce West said there were empty rooms right next door to the hearing room which could be opened. Because of the accoustics and the fact people kept talking with me and I with them, I'm not clear on this, but I believe Royce said he had checked with UTA and UTA told him they had not been requested to have those rooms available. I'm not sure what Vasut's response to that was. But one of the people next to me spoke with Royce who said those rooms were not going to be opened. His point was that even if they couldn't get audio-visual up in time, at least we could sit and listen to our phones in more comfort. So, there's that. One has to wonder about the motives here.
The second misgiving about the motives here was the green sheets we could fill out to register our presence and be counted. First, (I could be wrong) but it seemed the organizers failed to make it known to all the people in the lobby that those sheets weren't just for if you wanted to speak, they were also for the purpose of getting a count on people's opinion. One of my fellow lobby-dwellers obtained sheets to hand out so Republicans would have a better count. At first, I wasn't going to fill it out because I wasn't going to speak. Then I finally got it through my thick skull that there was another point, which was to register opposition. The final count is bound to be off because there is no way everyone in the lobby filled out a sheet. (By the way, the table with the sheets should have been at the front entry to the center rather than in front of the hearing room.)
Since there were no maps and no bill, House rules require all testimony to be neutral. Also, I liked the part when Jon Rosenthal said, “Remind them this is a public university.”
This was a masterclass in civic clarity. While most media outlets are stuck playing “both sides theater,” you’re out here naming names, pulling receipts, and reminding people that public testimony still matters—even if it gets bulldozed by pre-loaded agendas.
The fact that there were three people testifying in favor of redistricting and thousands against, yet we’re still bracing for the mutant maps drop, says everything. And the silence of certain Dems? Deafening. I don’t want their MSNBC cameo. I want their damn spine.
Keep calling it out. The people showed up. And some of us are keeping notes.
The man who testified for redistricting was no “gentleman”. I sat next to him and turned to introduce myself - he was aggressively hostile. I’m as neutral looking and pleasant as can be. When I walked out my very neutral friend said hi to him and he was hostile to her as well. He came there looking for a fight. It was shocking that he called himself a chaplain - more like a hostile drill sergeant. Bitter angry man. And kept saying he was a historian and either purposefully rewriting or misrepresenting history.
Otherwise, the evening was filled with amazing testimony and passionate informed citizens. I slept well last night with the knowledge that my fellow democracy and freedom loving neighbors are ON it.
Omg. What a nut job.
I was there, registered to testify shortly after 4pm and wasn’t called. Guess they know who I am and wanted to make sure I was silenced. Only 1 person was able to testify from Irving and that was only by accident when they called Kay Parr who by 10pm had to get home on Monday night driving all the way back to Parker County. I have no doubt they are ensuring I am gerrymandered out of CD 6 cause I called out Jake Ellzey to his face about putting grandmothers in Navarro County on the street and got him on film saying it would never happen. But then he voted for the Big Bad Bill and said fuck you to all the Title I schools kids in Navarro County. I stood up for Navarro County and I don’t even live there! But there is no way the Republicans will let me and Kelly Blackburn continue to make Irving, Ellis County and Mansfield bluer. They probably got the directive from Tim Dunn to make sure I am silenced.
So yeah it is fucking personal now. I did have 22 copies of my testimony and submitted it, handing two copies directly to Rep Garcia and Hernandez and Rep Terry Meza, two of the 3 Irving reps who stayed all night for the hearing as our city is already a gerrymandered mess of a pinwheel. But no one stood up for the AAPI voters in my city being gerrymandered out of CD 33, the Muslim voters in my city silenced in CD 6 and the democratic country club precinct of Hackberry silenced just because Beth VanDuyne’s parents live in her old house (who the fuck knows where she lives now). All 77 Irving precincts, silenced. The minority majority city of 260,000 silenced.
The speeches were uplifting and we got a long town hall with Chairman Wu outside with the Tarrant County young Dems. The ones I was going to shout out in my testimony who defeated Tim Dunn in Keller, Mansfield and Irving. That is the way it goes.
Thank you, Michelle! I've been waiting for this!!! Heading to bsky to post & back to your substack to watch more videos.
I was there in the lobby at the Hereford Center at UTA. There were at least the same number closed out of the hearing in the lobby as there were inside, I reckon. I asked one of the aides if they were going to open an overflow room. He said no. And he directed me to the House's livestream of the meeting. (I could have done that at home).
I did stay in the lobby for about an hour listening to the livestream and watching the crowd. I am almost positive no one in the lobby was for redistricting. I heard (through the lobby din) the opening testimony into the the mid-testimony on my phone. Royce West said there were empty rooms right next door to the hearing room which could be opened. Because of the accoustics and the fact people kept talking with me and I with them, I'm not clear on this, but I believe Royce said he had checked with UTA and UTA told him they had not been requested to have those rooms available. I'm not sure what Vasut's response to that was. But one of the people next to me spoke with Royce who said those rooms were not going to be opened. His point was that even if they couldn't get audio-visual up in time, at least we could sit and listen to our phones in more comfort. So, there's that. One has to wonder about the motives here.
The second misgiving about the motives here was the green sheets we could fill out to register our presence and be counted. First, (I could be wrong) but it seemed the organizers failed to make it known to all the people in the lobby that those sheets weren't just for if you wanted to speak, they were also for the purpose of getting a count on people's opinion. One of my fellow lobby-dwellers obtained sheets to hand out so Republicans would have a better count. At first, I wasn't going to fill it out because I wasn't going to speak. Then I finally got it through my thick skull that there was another point, which was to register opposition. The final count is bound to be off because there is no way everyone in the lobby filled out a sheet. (By the way, the table with the sheets should have been at the front entry to the center rather than in front of the hearing room.)
There were three boxes to check
1. For Redistricting
2. Against Redistricting
3. Neutral.
Neutral was pre-printed with an X. Hmm.
Since there were no maps and no bill, House rules require all testimony to be neutral. Also, I liked the part when Jon Rosenthal said, “Remind them this is a public university.”
This was a masterclass in civic clarity. While most media outlets are stuck playing “both sides theater,” you’re out here naming names, pulling receipts, and reminding people that public testimony still matters—even if it gets bulldozed by pre-loaded agendas.
The fact that there were three people testifying in favor of redistricting and thousands against, yet we’re still bracing for the mutant maps drop, says everything. And the silence of certain Dems? Deafening. I don’t want their MSNBC cameo. I want their damn spine.
Keep calling it out. The people showed up. And some of us are keeping notes.
revolutionary idea for ur readers
start a FB.........how ICE goons wrecked your family in (your county goes here)