Texas redistricting vote at a standstill after Democrats scatter: Morning Rundown

The Texas House approved arrest warrants for Democrats who fled the state to block a GOP-favored redistricting plan. Attorney General Pam Bondi orders a grand jury investigation into the Obama administration’s review of Russia’s actions during the 2016 election. And the double-edged sword facing travel influencers in Afghanistan.

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Republican lawmakers voted to issue arrest warrants for dozens of Democrats who fled Texas to block the GOP’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional lines. The House requires a quorum to proceed with a vote and with 51 of the state’s 62 Democratic House members out of the state, the legislation is effectively stalled.

“They’ve shirked their responsibilities under the direction and pressure of out-of-state politicians and activists who don’t know the first thing about what’s right for Texas,” said Republican Speaker Dustin Burrows.

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Shortly after gaveling in, Republican lawmakers locked the chamber doors and moved for the sergeant-at-arms to “send for” the lawmakers “under warrant of arrest, if necessary.”

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called for a special session of the Legislature this summer with redistricting on the agenda, an issue President Donald Trump has said would allow the GOP to pad their slim majority in the U.S. House with five more seats. The move enraged many Democrats who consider it a power play to prioritize House seats before passing legislation to address the disastrous floods that killed over 100 people in Kerr County, San Antonio, this summer.

Inside the chamber, they proceeded with a House vote and signed the civil arrest warrants, but Democrats have shrugged off threats so far. A majority traveled to Illinois and others to Boston and Albany, N.Y., but their next steps aren’t clear. The special legislative session cannot last more than 30 days, but Abbot could continue to call new sessions indefinitely.

Read the full story here.

More politics news:

• U.S. ties with India, a key security partner in Asia, are being tested by trade, tariffs and New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. Meanwhile, the European Union will pause its plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods while trade negotiations continue.
• White House officials began their search for a permanent replacement after Trump fired former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
• Ron DeSantis has a longstanding presence in the Florida GOP, but after losing his presidential bid, the momentum within the state’s Republican Party seemed to shift towards Trump.

Pam Bondi orders grand jury probe of Obama administration review of 2016 election

Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered Justice Department prosecutors to launch a probe into whether Obama administration officials committed federal crimes in a review of Russia’s actions during the 2016 election.

Trump and his supporters have long claimed that intelligence and law enforcement officials attempted to undermine his first term by overstating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and investigating Trump’s aides over any possible contacts with Moscow.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller found that Russia intervened in 2016 to undercut Hillary Clinton but found no evidence that the Trump team colluded with the Kremlin, as some on the left had previously suggested.

In an official letter signed by Bondi, an unnamed federal prosecutor is now instructed to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury to secure potential federal indictments. The letter doesn’t specify what the charges will be, who the grand jury will investigate or give a timeline for completion.

The announcement is the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration designed to rewrite the history of the 2016 election and seek retribution against those whom Trump accuses of trying to sabotage his first term in the White House.

Read the full story here.

Read All About It

• Growing frustrations with AI and other emerging technologies have prompted a new slur — just for robots.

• The Agriculture Department allowed West Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas to bar participants who receive SNAP benefits from using their aid for certain types of processed foods.

• A federal judge rejected “Sean Diddy’’ Combs’ efforts to be released from prison ahead of his sentencing.

• A bronze statue depicting Confederate Gen. Albert Pike will be reinstalled in Washington, D.C, after demonstrators toppled and burned it in 2020.

Staff Pick: Travel influencers boost tourism to Taliban-run Afghanistan

When I read about the three-month solo trip Margaritta, a 33-year-old travel influencer from Germany, took through Afghanistan, my heart soared. It is rare to read anything about Afghanistan that isn’t about war, violence or extremism, so it was a welcome relief to find someone appreciating the country’s heart-stoppingly beautiful landscape and fascinating history.

Margaritta says that she “felt fantastic” and safe in Afghanistan. She and other travel influencers explore the country’s landlocked, mountainous terrain and its tribal culture, with their glowing account contesting what has been painfully evident over the decades: that the country is unsafe and hostile to women.

Here’s the thing: Afghanistan is one of the world’s most violent countries, and arguably one of the worst places to be born a girl (if you look at maternal mortality rates, as well as laws that prohibit girls from studying beyond the age of 12 and women from working outside the home — just to name a few).

I fear Margaritta and others’ sunny travelogues risk whitewashing the harsh realities of life for the people of Afghanistan, not only its women. They also betray a lack of interest in or understanding of why some of us — wealthy, white Westerners — might be “treated like a queen.”

In sum, it’s great to share your adventures, but probably while keeping at the front of your mind that millions of people may well be living desperately difficult lives under harsh and austere circumstances that rosy travelogues might entirely miss.

— Brinley Burton, assistant managing editor

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