Thursday, October 07, 2021

All Hell (and Lots of News) Broke Yesterday


I had real difficulty just following all of these stories on the Twitter machine.


In order to block the law, Pitman crafted an injunction to “halt existing S.B. lawsuits and prevent new suits from being maintained by the state judiciary.” He forbade state judges and clerks from “accepting or docketing” these cases, and, for good measure, barred “private individuals who act on behalf of the state” from filing them. Finally, he ordered Texas to “publish this preliminary injunction on all of its public-facing court websites with a visible, easy-to-understand instruction to the public that S.B. 8 lawsuits will not be accepted by Texas courts.”

[...]

Perhaps most importantly, Pitman chose not to center the sufferings of the Supreme Court justices who feel beleaguered by the demands of the shadow docket, or of Texas, which seeks to overturn Roe v Wade without being hassled by precedent or legal arguments. Instead, in footnote after footnote, Pitman centers the pregnant people who have relied on the courts to vindicate their rights, and excoriates the state for hurting them, for lying about it, and for its cynical attempts to circumnavigate the rule of law. “From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” he wrote. “That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.”

One can only guess what will happen to Pitman’s order at the 5th Circuit -- which could quickly halt his injunction. It is even less clear what could happen at the Supreme Court, where five ultra-conservative justices seem to think S.B. 8’s devious design lets them off the hook. But for the first time in over a month, Texas women were visible and their needs were urgent to a federal court. And while that may not suffice to reinstitute the right to choose, it is the first glimpse of justice since the twisted Texas law took effect.


^This^ is the executive summary if your time is tight.  Here are deeper dives.


If you're anything like me, you're assessing your cut-the-cord options (or your cutting AT&T out of your life options).  I send these assholes more than $300 a month for wireless and satellite service, and that is going to end ASAP.


This news -- and the ATT developments, along with this heavily-promoted story from the TexTrib about who's funding the border wall -- Bigfooted Greg Abbott and his pals down in Mission yesterday.


Ted Cruz also tried to change the subject, but made himself look like ...


So I shouldn't have been surprised that this hasn't gotten any traction.


Back In Austin, the Lege is still bullying trans kids.


And on the local politics scene, two developments.  First from Bexar County ...


And Sly Turner plays the race card in his still-enlarging scandal over housing contracts awarded to his former law partner.


"We have weathered together many storms and challenges over my last six years. Many. This is another and it is important to weather," Turner told council members. "[I will weather] this one for future leaders who will come behind me and if you allow me to say this, who look like me. ... It's important for me to weather this storm for the future leaders who will sit in this chair, who may look like me, and that's important to me."

I would rather not see the mayor use the Clarence Thomas defense.

The criminal and social justice news just keeps on coming.


And it looks as if Exxon Mobil is succeeding in busting out the Steelworkers union from their Beaumont plant.


This afternoon is Tesla's shareholders meeting, which you can watch at the link below.  I'll be interested to see if Elon Musk announces he's relocating corporate HQ to Austin.


And one calm-me-down.

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