Friday, May 07, 2021

Mothers Day Weekend Collation from Far Left Texas


You should have already made arrangements to go see your mother, take her out for lunch or dinner, send her flowers, chocolates, or her favorite something.  If you haven't, you had certainly better call her.  This would be especially important if she is at the stage of life where her memory is receding.  If she is no longer with you, celebrate your memories of her.  And if any of that is too difficult or painful to do, then I wish you peace and strength to accept with grace the emotions you may be feeling.


The Texas Legislature closed out a very long yesterday early this morning, passing the contentious voting restrictions legislation in a party-line approval after truculent debate, procedural delays, and more incompetence by the gaffe-prone chair of the statehouse committee in charge.


Yesterday
All my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they're here to stay

Unlike the Fab Four, I don't believe.


Dutton, a Houston Democrat, may be a little PO'ed because -- as the elections bills were being poured over by parliamentarians for hours on a point of order before the chamber moved on -- his bill regarding the takeover of certain (read: majority Black) HISD schools by the state was killed by a p.o.o. from Rep. Alma Allen, also of H-town.


Update:


*headdesk*


While TXGOP legislators are standing in solidarity, the House Democratic Caucus' fault lines are cracking wide open.


Most of these Blue Dogs are Latinos representing RGV districts, scared to death of losing to a Republican next year in the rising Red Tide coming to South Texas.  This is why TexDonks are in a world of hurt (among many other reasons, mostly of their own doing ... or not-doing).

Texans who will suffer most are those who have the least, as always.


Rural Texans will see their hospitals close, their doctors move away to make a better living, their loved ones get sick and die, and they will still vote a straight Republican ticket in 2022.  Even my well-endowed empathy has its limits for that amount of ignorance.

More bad at the Lege:


Pretty sure any random atheist knows there is no mention of guns in the Bible.  Not a good idea for a Christian to lie about what his god says.

Enough of this.  Moving on.


Something rich richer something poorer something.


And the environmental story of the week comes from Rolling Stone.


Abuse against female soldiers is not limited to Vanessa Guillen.


Austin has a homeless problem for a very good reason.


What percentage of 'close enough' to herd immunity will it take to protect our lives, health, and freedumbs?


Bless their hearts, Texas Democrats are fighting back with everything they have.  It's just that they don't have very much.


Kinda doubt the Gilley's folks are Democrats, but whatever; take the W where you can.  Here's a Mockery Moment.


Paxton has a lazy eye.  Ted Cruz has a lazy everything.


Sometimes these guys are funny; most of the time they are not.


Closing with the lighter side.

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Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Hump Day Bad Lege Round-up


Today the Republican-controlled statehouse moved quickly to outlaw a woman's right to make her reproductive choices, and to criminalize the actions of those who would assist her in doing so.


The bill is designed to be challenged at the SCOTUS, in a direct threat to Roe v. Wade with the new conservative justices -- installed by a corrupt US Senate process and its former leader, Mitch McConnell -- standing by, ready to strike it down.

When the previous president outsourced judicial selection to the Federalist Society, everyone understood that McConnell's long game of blocking Obama's bench appointments had paid off.  And Senate Democratic leadership declined to pay it back, allowing Moscow Mitch to pack the courts, which included ram-rodding the abominable Amy Barrett onto the Supreme Court just a few weeks after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  Barrett's well-known beliefs on this issue is the linchpin.

Their scheme is coming to fruition.  There have been many players and many circumstances that got us to this point, but do not discount the subtle, conservative extremism of the still shiny-new Speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan.

A number of states have already passed six-week abortion bans, only to see them struck down -- including by conservative courts such as the Fifth Circuit, which last year threw out a Mississippi law banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. “All agree that cardiac activity can be detected well before the fetus is viable,” the court wrote, adding: “That dooms the law.” Under Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court held that women have the right to an abortion prior to the point of viability.

Pro-life groups in Texas are trying a different tack. SB8, as passed by the Senate, would leave enforcement to individuals by creating a private cause for action. Such a law might not pass constitutional muster, but it can’t be challenged via the same litigation strategy that has thwarted all the other statewide six-week bans passed to date.

“It’s legally clever in some ways,” conceded Blake Rocap, the legislative director for Avow, the nonprofit formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.
This is Phelan's agenda.  His role -- appointing the chairs and members comprising the House committees who carry this water -- has been key.

That’s right: under SB8, anyone in the country could sue a Texan who “performs or induces an abortion in violation of this chapter” or who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance of an abortion” -- or, for that matter, who “intends to engage” in such conduct. [...] It would be absurd to be sued for such a thing, of course. But sillier lawsuits have been brought. And in addition to everything else -- and in stark contrast to the state’s general approach to frivolous lawsuits -- SB 8 would protect the litigants in such a situation, no matter how vindictive their motives or ridiculous their arguments: if you successfully defend yourself from such a lawsuit, you can’t even recoup your legal fees or other costs. [...] That may not be sufficient to thwart SB8’s passage in the House, or to prevent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott from signing it; he has declared abortion restrictions a priority for this session. Advocates are curious to see if it’s amended on the House floor -- and pessimistic about their chances of stopping the bill’s passage outright, given that the chamber is controlled by Republicans, more than 60 of whom have signed on as sponsors or cosponsors.

They will brag about this for years to come.  They will fund-raise on it.  They will gerrymander their seats so they can remain in Austin and Washington to do more and do worse, and they will restrict and suppress the votes of those who oppose them.

It's what they do.  Who's going to stop them?  Texas Democrats?


In other bad Lege news:


That's a great civics and First Amendment lesson for the kids, isn't it?


Update: The House permitless carry bill, HB1927, is being jammed through the Senate, courtesy Charles Schwertner, as I write this.


I don't have the tolerance for any more today.  I'll have a catch-up post on Friday.  I need to go long on the "calm-me-downs", previously assembled.

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