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WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

The nature of the threat that has been put upon the country through what they're trying to do in Texas has really increased the danger to our democracy. And as a result of that, we've got to do things that perhaps in the past I would not have supporting. Texas is locked in a battle over redistricting.

Will other states follow suit?

It's August 4th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston.

I'm Kalyani Saxena.

Today on the show, we'll unpack President Trump's decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics

with a former commissioner of the agency during Trump's first term.

When I was commissioner, I was locked out of the process, as every commissioner prior to me was.

If there was even the hint that the commissioner could get in there and say, well, you know,

this number needs to be rounded up or rounded down or something.

That would mean political interference and the numbers would have less credibility.

And we'll analyze how one quirky cartoon family revolutionized American TV forever.

Eat my shorts.

All right, I'll eat your shorts!

Yeah, eat my shorts. All right. I'll eat your shorts. Yeah, eat my shorts.

But first, we've got to debrief about the political fight over redistricting that's erupted in Texas.

So over the weekend, Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives packed their bags

and left the state. It was a last-ditch effort to stop Republican lawmakers from reshaping

the state's congressional maps. Without the Democrats, the House won't have the quorum necessary

for a vote. Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, is furious and threatening retaliation. But Democrats

...