National averages have been pushed upward for more geopolitical reasons. The Strait of Hormuz is still effectively closed, Houthi forces threatened to close some Red Sea shipping lanes and Ukraine has renewed targets against Russian oil facilities.
Online, "geopolitical reasons" is linked to this article:
Two core concepts of gerrymandering were central to the arguments presented to the high court: cracking and packing. A third process, known as stacking, also crops up in gerrymandered political maps, but was not the focus of Gill v. Whitford.
Cracking and packing both refer to specific ways of drawing legislative boundaries with the outcomes of elections in mind. These two processes operate in tension with one another, but both can be implemented by a party in power seeking to maximize its electoral chances through gerrymandering.
Packing refers to the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party.
Cracking involves drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive. [emphasis added]
A leader of the controversial Tennessee church known for its “Weigh Down” weight loss program was sentenced Thursday to three years and five months in prison for healthcare fraud.
Helen Abelmalak Boerman, 49, admitted in court that her optometry practice in Brentwood, a wealthy suburb south of Nashville, stole nearly $7 million from the federal government.
With approximately 50 members of Remnant Fellowship church in the courtroom to support her, Boerman admitted what she did was wrong, but used stress as her excuse.
