Democrats made a “fundamental miscalculation” in the redistricting wars and now have “little chance” in the November midterms, argues Eric Garcia at The Independent.

Calling the Virginia Supreme Court’s nullification of a voter-led ballot initiative that allowed the creation of four Democratic congressional districts a “massive body blow,” Garcia also points to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision “virtually nullifying the Voting Rights Act” by requiring Louisiana to redraw its congressional map. There is also the Tennessee legislature turning majority-Black Memphis into another GOP seat — erasing the only Democratic seat in that state.

“And this does not count the redrawing of congressional districts in Missouri and North Carolina before the Supreme Court decision, or Alabama, which is under a court order to not redraw its map until 2030,” Garcia says. He notes that California has been the only state to respond, doing so by adding five Democratic seats to the state.

Zachary Donnini, the head of data science at VoteHub, a political news outlet, “put it bleakly for Democrats.”

Donnini says that now, instead of having to flip just three seats to take the majority in the House, Democrats will have to flip an additional nine seats — a total of twelve in all.

Democrats tried to “lead by example,” but, Garcia says, they turned their states into “laboratories for democracy” by creating “unilateral” disarmament “on behalf of the Democrats” — an act, he labels, a “fundamental failure.”

But he offers Democrats a little hope.

Texas’s redistricting plan relied on Hispanic voters, “after flirting with Trump,” to stay aligned with the GOP. That might have changed. The situation is the same in South Florida, “where the state’s normally conservative Cuban Americans have been caught in the Trump immigration dragnet.”

Pointing to inflation, the economy overall, and Trump’s Iran war, Garcia says Republicans holding on to the House might be “even more difficult.”

Democrats, however, made a “fundamental miscalculation,” Garcia concludes. “By creating guardrails and rules, Republicans did not see a reason to compromise and meet them halfway. It made them targets for weakening. Now, Democrats have put themselves in a bind. They only have themselves to blame.”

The post Dems ‘fundamental miscalculation’ could cost them the House: analysis appeared first on MASSIVE News.

On the early edition of Balance of Power, Bloomberg Washington Correspondent Joe Mathieu discusses the government shutdown entering its eighth day. On today’s show, Republican Congressman Jason Smith of Missouri, Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis, Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center Visiting Democracy Fellow Jeanne Sheehan Zaino and Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Balance of Power: Early Edition Starts

00:04:17 – Tyler Kendall on Mounting Missed Payroll Dates Adding Pressure to Shutdown Deadlock

00:08:20 – Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) Talks Shutdown Hitting One Week, Solutions Still Murky

00:18:34 – Bloomberg Political Panel Discuss Trump Sending National Guard to Chicago, Comey Pleads Not Guilty

00:29:20 – Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) Joined Balance of Power Tuesday to Talk Shutdown, ACA Tax Credits

00:33:15 –

——–

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The post Trump Upends Republican Shutdown Strategy | Balance of Power 10/8/2025 appeared first on MASSIVE News.

Carriers claimed selling data didn’t violate law

Instead of denying the allegations, the carriers argued that the FCC overstepped its authority. But the appeals court panel decided that the FCC acted properly:

Sprint and T-Mobile (collectively, “the Carriers”) now petition for our review. Neither denies what happened. Instead, they argue that the undisputed facts do not amount to a violation of the law. The Carriers also argue that the Commission misinterpreted the Communications Act, miscalculated the penalties, and violated the Seventh Amendment by not affording them a jury trial. Because the Carriers’ arguments lack merit, we deny the petitions for review.

The FCC fines included $80.1 million for T-Mobile and $12.2 million for Sprint. T-Mobile, which bought Sprint in 2020, reported service revenue of $17.4 billion and net income of $3.2 billion in the most recent quarter.

Although the FCC first proposed the fines in 2020, under Republican Chairman Ajit Pai, the 2024 vote to finalize the penalties was 3-2, with dissents from Republicans Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. Carr is now chairman of the FCC.

T-Mobile told Ars today that it is “currently reviewing the court’s action” but did not provide further comment. The carrier could seek an en banc review in front of all the appeals court’s justices, or ask the Supreme Court to review the case. Meanwhile, AT&T is challenging its fine in the 5th Circuit appeals court while Verizon is challenging in the 2nd Circuit.

AT&T and Verizon were fined $57.3 million and $46.9 million, respectively. The FCC last year said the major carriers disclosed customer location information “without customer consent or other legal authorization to a Missouri Sheriff through a ‘location-finding service’ operated by Securus, a provider of communications services to correctional facilities, to track the location of numerous individuals.”

The post T-Mobile claimed selling location data without consent is legal—judges disagree appeared first on MASSIVE News.