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'Simpsons' creators hilariously slam Ted Cruz for his CPAC comments.

Sen. Ted Cruz took the stage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference and started an important conversation about ... "The Simpsons"?

"I think the Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson," said the Republican senator from Texas at one point during an interview. "And the Republicans are, happily, the party of Homer and Bart and Maggie and Marge."

[rebelmouse-image 19495461 dam="1" original_size="480x360" caption="GIF from "The Simpsons."" expand=1]GIF from "The Simpsons."

Now, it's pretty clear what he meant: The Democratic Party is a bunch of wet-blanket elitist vegetarian know-it-alls while he and his fellow Republicans look out for the average American. OK! That's his opinion, and that's cool — but not everyone agreed.

A number of people involved in creating "The Simpsons" shared a few thoughts on the comparison, and it wasn't especially charitable to Cruz.

Former "Simpsons" writer Daniel Chun poked fun at the fact that Cruz accidentally "liked" a tweet from a porn account a few months back.

Animator Anna Maltese broke things down a bit more saying that the only one Cruz might be right about would be Bart, but that's not necessarily a great thing.

She also suggested that Cruz's reference was a ploy to land a guest spot doing a voiceover, pointing out that he even made an "audition" tape in 2015 for BuzzFeed.

[rebelmouse-image 19495462 dam="1" original_size="450x253" caption=""I'm a vegetarian! I don't eat animals!" is Cruz's impression of Lisa. GIF from BuzzFeed/YouTube." expand=1]"I'm a vegetarian! I don't eat animals!" is Cruz's impression of Lisa. GIF from BuzzFeed/YouTube.

Executive producer Al Jean joked that even the billionaire Mr. Burns might be thinking of becoming a Democrat.

And Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson herself, offered perhaps the most charitable and optimistic reading of all (which is a very Lisa thing to do!).

Sure, "The Simpsons" has poked fun at all political parties over the years. And there are a few examples of characters on the show who are unabashedly Republican.

Ned Flanders, Krusty the Clown, Mr. Burns, and Sideshow Bob have been identified as Republicans in various episodes.

[rebelmouse-image 19495463 dam="1" original_size="480x360" caption="GIF from "The Simpsons."" expand=1]GIF from "The Simpsons."

The show also includes a few glimpses into the Springfield Republican headquarters, for what it's worth.

Arnold Schwarzenegger shows up in "The Simpsons Movie" as a president who was "elected to lead, not to read" — which might sound a little familiar.

[rebelmouse-image 19495464 dam="1" original_size="480x200" caption="GIF from "The Simpsons Movie."" expand=1]GIF from "The Simpsons Movie."

But maybe Cruz's comparison was right — or at least, not totally wrong.

In any case, if Cruz's analogy does hold true, that might not be good news for the Republican Party when 2020 rolls around — just sayin'.

But seriously, don't think too much into it.

[rebelmouse-image 19495465 dam="1" original_size="480x360" caption="GIF via "The Simpsons."" expand=1]GIF via "The Simpsons."

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"Anyone got a minute to talk about gerrymandering?" Laura Moser, a candidate running for the 7th Congressional District seat in Texas, asked her Twitter followers on Dec. 3, 2017.

Candidate Laura Moser. Photo courtesy of Laura Moser for Congress.

Gerrymandering may sound like a silly term coined in an episode of "Seinfeld," but as Moser explained, it's anything but.

In a fiery tweet thread following her initial question, Moser spelled out why gerrymandering is, to be frank, the absolute worst.

Moser's district in Houston — like many across the U.S. — has been heavily gerrymandered. That's why its voting boundaries look like this:

To be sure, as Moser pointed out, there are even more bizarrely shaped districts across the country. Take this one in Chicago, for example.

Then there's the entire state of North Carolina, which gerrymandering's turned into the weirdest blue-and-red jigsaw puzzle imaginable.

But Moser's own 7th District in Texas is still pretty bad.

Not every odd-looking boundary is suspicious, of course. Naturally formed borders like rivers may alter district boundaries a bit, Moser explained.

But when specific blocks within neighborhoods have been redrawn to conveniently slip into different districts? It makes you wonder, she tweeted, "Why ... is one block of Linkwood Drive excluded from the district?"

"Or here, in my neighborhood of West University: why are half of Pemberton and Fenwood in a different district?" she asked.

Like, honestly, Houstonians, what is happening with Jersey Village? As Moser pointed out, things there are getting "pretty baroque."

Nope, a drunk guy didn't map out the 7th District in Houston (or any of these other districts).

"If it seems like whoever drew these lines must have been drunk, think again: this is part of a very calculated campaign," Moser tweeted.

And race (read: racism) has a lot to do with it.

Gerrymandering has the potential to significantly dampen the political power of neighborhoods of color (or those that are poor or younger).

This is how it works:

Basically, gerrymandering is the manipulation of voting district boundaries by politicians to give their party an advantage on Election Day. In other words, politicians can quietly redraw district lines to consolidate or split up certain voting blocs — based on race, religion, socioeconomic status, education level, etc. — to favor their own candidacy or party.

Both parties are guilty of applying this trickery. But the GOP has held majorities across most state legislatures where district boundaries are decided since 2010, and they've abused this ethically challenged privilege far more than their Democrat counterparts.

Take Wisconsin, for example. After Republicans in control there redrew district lines in 2011 — packing left-leaning voters into certain areas when it was politically advantageous, then spreading them out when it wasn't — a court ruled the actions were an attempt to cement an electoral infrastructure favorable to the GOP.

The proof's in the pudding, after all: In the Wisconsin election held after the new district lines went into effect, Republicans won just 48.6% of votes for the state assembly, yet still earned a 60-to-39 seat majority.

The Supreme Court heard arguments for the case in October 2017. The court's decision will likely affect gerrymandering laws for decades to come.

In Houston, Moser argues, "minority" voters are being corralled into districts to give Republicans a larger advantage.

"But WE ARE THE MAJORITY. In Texas and in the nation," she wrote. "The majority of decent Americans who believes in fairness, in treating people with respect."

Her Twitter thread struck a chord with many voters concerned about how gerrymandering will affect votes in Houston — and the rest of the country. As of this writing, the thread has been retweeted nearly 17,000 times.

Moser credits the tweet's virality to people waking up to an increasingly rigged system.

"I hope we can start fighting for the most basic of principles, one that everyone, regardless of party or region, race or income, can agree on: every American should have an equal vote," she says. "If we want citizens to get involved in our democracy, we better make sure it really is a democracy."

4 moms rejoiced when the Obamacare repeal bill failed. Now it's back, and they're furious.

Angela Eilers wanted to believe the push to upend the Affordable Care Act was finally over.

While "skinny repeal," the GOP's last attempt to gut the law, failed in July, she sent a handwritten thank-you note to every senator that voted against it. She saved the most elaborate and effusive for John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski, the senators who broke with their own caucus to vote the bill down. Eilers was relieved for her daughter Myka, who was born with pulmonary stenosis, a congenital heart defect that required open-heart surgery to treat, and for her family, which she says can afford private market insurance thanks to the law.

Still, she couldn't relax.

"I never let myself think that they weren’t going to stop," Eilers says. "I knew that they wouldn't stop until they got this done."

Her fears have come true with the most recent GOP push to replace the ACA. Eilers finds herself feeling disheartened and, perhaps most ominously, "defeated."

"Yesterday was the first day that it hit me really really hard," she admits.

With Senate Republicans taking another shot at Obamacare, many parents of children with chronic medical conditions are at their wits' end, trying to cope with having to fight, once again, to preserve their access to treatment.

What began as resolve has, for many, evolved into a growing sense of powerlessness — and anger.

"If these people lived on a pediatric cancer floor for weeks, months, or longer, they would reconsider their positions on health care because it is gut-wrenching," says Karen Lee Orosco, whose daughter was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of childhood cancer, when she was 15 months old. Even with an intact ACA, Orosco had to crowdfund her daughter's surgery and is incensed that the new bill penalizes her home state of California with deep funding cuts.

Kate Greene, whose son Eddie suffers from severe hemophilia A, worries about returning to a time when those with the disease had to change jobs and move across state lines to afford, or even receive, coverage. Despite having visited her member of Congress with her family, she now makes 10 calls to them a day.

"I want Eddie to know I did everything I could to protect him," she says.

The most recent proposal, dubbed "Graham-Cassidy," includes drastic cuts to both Medicaid and the ACA's subsidies.

An NPR analysis found that the bill would allow states to permit insurers to omit the Affordable Care Act's essential health benefits from plans and deny or significantly upcharge consumers with pre-existing conditions.

The potential new law could also permit plans to bring back lifetime caps on coverage, a major fear for parents whose children have already exceeded them.

Frustration at the proposed cuts extends beyond the parents of young children.

Pat Nelson, whose 33-year-old son suffers from an aggressive form of brain cancer, says that calling her senator, Marco Rubio, which she does daily, feels like "hitting my head against a brick." She and her retired husband help her son cover his already sky-high medical bills, which she worries will explode if the bill becomes law.

"We would have to come up with more to pay for his healthcare," she says. I'm not sure how we will be able to do that.

The fate of the bill continues to hang by a thread, as the key swing votes from July have yet to commit one way or another.

While Collins is seen to be leaning against the measure, neither McCain nor Murkowski have given more than a few clues about their vote.

On Sep. 20, a spokesperson for Mitch McConnell's office announced the majority leader's intent to hold a vote soon, leading some observers to believe the holdouts could be convinced to support the new proposal.

Until then, many say they have no choice but to keep fighting for their kids, exhausted as they may be.

Despite her despair over the bill's return, Eilers was buoyed when Jimmy Kimmel, a fellow "heart dad," used his opening monologue to rail against the bill Tuesday and accused bill co-author Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy of lying "right to his face."

"He was angry, like us, like the rest of us," she says. "He was angry that this could impact his child. And I appreciated that."

Next week could bring relief or more fury.

In the meantime, Eilers plans to keep sending her representative a picture of Myka every day until the bill is either dead or law.

After all, she wonders, what else is there to do?

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Heroes

Trump might exit the Paris Agreement. A Republican is begging him not to with a photo.

Over the weekend, signals that President Donald Trump intends to abandon the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change began blaring.

Photo by Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images.

A group of 22 Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell along with White House aide Steve Bannon, White House counsel Don McGahn, and EPA chief Scott Pruitt, have reportedly urged Trump to exit the agreement, which requires signatory nations to take whatever steps they deem necessary to limit worldwide temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.

While Trump tweeted on Saturday morning that he would make a final decision in the coming days, several people close to Trump have said that he is "[planning] to leave" the deal, according to an Axios report.

The reports appear to have unnerved even some Republicans, specifically those whose districts stand to take on a fair amount of water should the agreement fall apart and sea levels continue to rise — which could occur at a terrifyingly rapid rate without a serious global effort to curb carbon emissions.

On Tuesday, Florida GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan tweeted a picture of his coastal district, along with a message for the president.

Buchanan's district includes the city of Sarasota and a group of barrier islands, all of which are threatened by rising sea levels.

A 2013 study found that if the rise in carbon emissions continues at the current rate, parts of Florida's 16th congressional district could see half or more of its population displaced by 2100.

Buchanan is not the only Republican asking Trump to reconsider withdrawing from the agreement either.

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, who represents South Carolina, home to a number of coastal cities and low-lying islands, added his voice to the chorus on Sunday, telling CNN's Jake Tapper that leaving the agreement would be "bad for the [GOP], bad for the country."

It might be relatively easy to ignore the problem of rising sea levels from landlocked states like Kansas or Montana or Tennessee.

Or from Air Force One, for that matter.

But it's not so easy when, like Buchanan, Graham, and others, you wake up staring at the potential consequences each morning.

It's been a good run. Photo by Roger W/Flickr.

Buchanan's record on climate change is certainly mixed — at best. Last year, the congressman earned a 29% rating from the League of Conservation Voters and just a 21% rating overall. But even if he's late to the party, voices like his are unfortunately rare enough to be essential.

The more pro-climate GOP voices join the debate, the easier it will be for more Republicans from coastal areas who want their beautiful views to continue on undisturbed to face reality and stand up against climate change.

It's in everyone's best interest. Reality, after all, has a way of biting back before too long.

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People across the political spectrum condemned the attack.

A Republican Party outpost in Orange County, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend. Luckily, nobody was hurt.

An already tense election season took a turn for the worse as pictures emerged showing the charred aftermath of what some were quick to label an act of political terrorism.

While it's unclear who carried out the attack, it was quickly condemned by people from across the political spectrum.

Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offered short statements via their Twitter accounts on Sunday afternoon.

Trump's chosen rhetoric, assigning blame to Clinton and North Carolina Democrats, didn't seem to bode well for anyone hoping for a calm, level-headed investigation into the attack.

A few short hours later, a group of Democrats did something many would have considered unthinkable just a day earlier: They gave money to the Republican Party.

Led by David Weinberger, a senior researcher at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, a small group of Democrats launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the Republicans rebuild and reopen the office. Within hours, they raised more than $13,000 from 550 donors.

"As Democrats, we are starting this campaign to enable the Orange County, North Carolina Republican office to re-open as soon as possible," reads a statement on the GoFundMe page. "Until an investigation is undertaken, we cannot know who did this or why. No matter the result, this is not how Americans resolve their differences."

Helping the GOP reopen its Orange County office seems like a noble thing to do, but not all Democrats agreed with the decision.

Some pointed to the fact that there's still no way to know who carried out the attack or what their political leanings are — as Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo notes, situations that look like politically-motivated attacks aren't always what they seem. Others noted the fact that any damage to the office would likely be covered by insurance.

Photo by Jonathan Drew/AP.

The attack was wrong — that is something we can all agree on. Giving money to the Republican party in North Carolina, however? The same party that tried to enact a voter ID law designed to disenfranchise people of color? The same party that pushed through virulently anti-LGBTQ legislation? To some Democrats, that didn't make sense.

Photo by Sara D. Davis/Getty Images.

A list of North Carolina organizations in desperate need of funding quickly popped up on social media for people in search of a good cause to donate to instead of (or in addition to) the GOP.

Among organizations listed were relief funds set up to help the people of Fair Bluff and Lumberton, still reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. Others recommended the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, LGBTQ legal organization Lambda Legal, a University of North Carolina scholarship fund set up in honor of Muslim students killed in a hate crime last year, North Carolina Justice Center's Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Equality NC, the ACLU of North Carolina, the Carolina Justice Policy Center, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Southerners on New Ground, and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

A man in Lumberton, North Carolina, walks down a flooded street in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images.

The response to the attack — whether or not donating money to the North Carolina Republican Party is the morally right response — is one on which reasonable people disagree, and that's OK.

In the end, nobody got hurt, the GOP office has funds to reopen, and hopefully, some money that wouldn't have otherwise been donated made its way to a few important charitable causes.

Lawyers' Committee

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights

Between a plagiarized speech from Melania Trump and Ted Cruz being booed after refusing to endorse Donald Trump, 20-year-old James Villalobos walked around Quicken Loans Arena with his all-access pass and his eyes and ears wide open.

Villalobos scored a correspondent gig to the Republican National Convention after being picked from almost 200 applicants in a nationwide search by Fuse Media and Voto Latino for aspiring journalists to "Crash the Party."

The University of Massachusetts Amherst journalism student and first-generation Latino was hoping to witness the Republican Party finally coming together. What he saw was much different.

Here's what he learned during his week in Cleveland.

1. There was a lack of diversity at the convention.

"Walking around that convention hall, there was very little diversity," Villalobos explained. "With the exception of a few black people, I didn’t really come across any Latinos so that was a bit disappointing because you want to see that representation there." According to The National Review, Latinos — one of the country's largest ethnic minority — account for only 17% of the GOP, and that number is declining.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

2. The Trump swag is cringeworthy.

"There are a lot of people taking advantage of the number of Trump supporters present and making revenue off of it," Villalobos said.

There are your run-of-the-mill propaganda items like "Make America Great Again" hats, buttons, and T-shirts, but there’s also an ugly side to the items being peddled, he said. As you may imagine, Villalobos confirmed, there's plenty of anti-Hillary goods for sale — including a disturbing shirt reading "Hillary Sucks, But Not Like Monica." Of course, though, there's sure to be anti-Trump merchandise at the DNC next week as well.

Photo by Robyn Beck/Getty Images.

3. There were plenty of protesters but no civilized exchange of ideas.

"It’s sad we live in a time where we don’t listen to each other," Villalobos said. He saw a lot of anger with people screaming and swearing at each other. Among the protesters that Villalobos saw at the RNC were Black Lives Matter activists, anarchist groups, and the Stop Trump movement.

"My only hope is that we as a country can discuss the issues and together work on solutions," he explained.

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

4. The Republican Party may be divided on many issues, but members are united on their dislike of Hillary Clinton.

In spite of the numerous attempts made to present a united front during the RNC, the party of Lincoln still seems pretty divided, according to Villalobos. Ted Cruz's address at the convention and subsequent refusal to endorse Trump by encouraging people to "vote their conscience" seemed to fracture the party even further.

The one thing everyone seems to have in common, though, is their disdain of all things Hillary Clinton. The most popular chant throughout the four-day event, Villalobos said, was "Lock her up!"

We should expect to see Democrats unite at their convention, as well, in their collective disdain of Trump and everything he stands for. This is clearly one of the most polarizing U.S. elections to date.

Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

5. People expressed gratitude toward law enforcement.

There was a very large police presence — understandably so given the devastating attacks and other acts of violence we've seen in the past weeks. What struck Villalobos the most, he remarked, was how the Cleveland community embraced the officers' presence, taking the time to say, "thank you for being here" or "thank you for keeping us safe."

Image by Dominick Reuter/Getty Images.

Villalobos is the only U.S. citizen in his family. His parents and sisters were born in Costa Rica.

When he heard about this amazing opportunity to cover the RNC, he thought it was a long shot. But after a public vote and impressing a panel of judges including Rachel Maddow — the rest is now history.

Seeing the RNC through Villalobos' eyes gives us a unique perspective from someone who's experiencing the political process for the first time.

In four days, Villalobos didn't see himself represented in the RNC. He also witnessed a divisive party, but he achieved what he set out to do. He went. He saw. He conquered. And most importantly for him, he became a better journalist, and that's something we can all benefit from someday.

Read all about Villalobos' journey covering the RNC for Fuse Media and Voto Latino's Crash the Party.

Lawyers' Committee

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights

They can't vote yet, but that doesn't mean kids aren't paying attention to the election.

They hear the news, see the ads, and watch their parents cheer and jeer at the candidates. And whether they realize it or not, they're often the first to feel the consequences.

Will they attend safe, well-funded schools with a rigorous curriculum? Is their water OK to drink? Are there safe places for them to eat, play, and shop? Will children of color have the same opportunities for success as their white peers?

Like many of us, they're scared and worried about the immediate future of our country — only they have no control over what happens next. Until now.

We wanted to hear from young people, so we invited them to weigh in.

We asked children ages 5-14 from around the country to draw their reactions to a few highlights from the Republican National Convention.

We wanted to see the spectacle, the fanfare, and the rhetoric from their perspective. And with pencils, crayons, markers, and cartoon speech bubbles, they exceeded our wildest expectations.

The artwork is funny, unpredictable, and compassionate. But most of all, it's honest.

And in a campaign season filled with double-talk and vitriol, a little honesty goes a long way.

See the RNC like never before ... through the eyes of children.

It's colorful in every sense of the word.