#Gov Abbott

[porterdavis]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Trump sycophants parroting attacks on justice system risk further provoking MAGA extremists

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Defending the Judiciary in 2024

May 17, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

Events on Thursday highlighted yet another reason Democrats must vote in record numbers in November to defeat MAGA extremism. Republicans are undermining the institution of the judiciary in every way imaginable. Eroding the legitimacy and authority of the courts is textbook fascism. Indeed, in fascist states, courts are co-opted or replaced, becoming instruments of totalitarian rule.

Every American should be concerned about the coordinated assault on the judiciary by MAGA extremists.

It is difficult to identify Thursday’s most egregious attack on the legitimacy of the courts, but it seems appropriate to begin with Justice Samuel Alito.

Justice Alito displays a “Stop the Steal” flag on his front lawn.

As a Supreme Court justice, Alito has been unapologetic in his efforts to defend Trump's lawlessness. He has risen to Trump's defense with gleeful spite and unveiled resentment against those seeking to hold Trump accountable under the Constitution.

On Thursday, the New York Times revealed that Alito’s home displayed an upside-down US flag during the fraught days after the January 6 insurrection. At the time, flying the US flag upside down was a symbol calling to “Stop the Steal” of the 2020 election from Trump. It was a call to insurrection—proudly displayed by a US Supreme Court justice sworn to defend and protect the Constitution. See New York Times, At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display. (This article is accessible to all.)

In response to an inquiry from the Times, Alito said,

I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag.

Notably, Alito did not deny the veracity of the photograph of the flag flying upside down on his lawn. He did not deny the symbolism of the upside-down flag. He did not deny that he was aware of its continued presence in front of his house. Instead, he blamed his wife, whom he claimed flew the “Stop the Steal” banner in response to anti-Trump signs in the neighborhood.

Alito’s response to the Times is a lie. He owns the flag. He owns the flagpole. He owns the property on which the flag was displayed. He permitted it to remain on display on his property. He, therefore, did have “involvement” in “flying the flag.” It does not matter that it was his wife who physically raised the “Stop the Steal” banner on the flagpole. Alito’s hair-splitting denial is misleading and incomplete—and therefore false.

All of this leaves us with a second justice on the Supreme Court whose spouse was a booster of the effort to overthrow the Constitution and prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

Those justices—Alito and Thomas—are currently considering Trump's presidential immunity defense to the indictment alleging that Trump attempted to subvert the election. Under any reasonable reading of Code of Conduct that applies to Supreme Court justices, Alito and Thomas should have recused themselves long ago (under Canons 2 and 3).

The fact that Alito and Thomas have failed to do so is an open wound on the Court, oozing pus and bile every time they take the bench in a matter involving Trump's coup and insurrection.

Ultimately, the feckless Chief Justice John Roberts is to blame. He has allowed a sprawling and continuing scandal to consume the dwindling legitimacy of the Court. He has allowed that scandal to fester in order to provide cover for the most corrupt president in our nation’s history—which is a fitting epitaph for Roberts’ squandered legacy.

Texas Governor Abbott nullifies jury’s conviction of racist who killed Black Lives Matter protestor.

In the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Daniel Perry shot and killed a protester who was carrying a gun (which is legal in Texas). A jury heard the evidence—including Perry’s claim of self-defense—and convicted Perry of murder. Perry was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After the verdict, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he wanted to pardon Perry.

On Thursday, the Texas pardon board gave Abbott the recommendation to pardon Perry. Abbott issued an immediate pardon, and Perry is now back on the street—with his right to carry firearms restored. See Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pardons Daniel Perry, Army sergeant convicted of murdering protester in 2020 (nbcnews.com).

In pardoning Perry, Abbott issued a statement that denigrated the jury’s verdict and consideration of the evidence of self-defense. Abbott wrote,

Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury . . . .

 When a jury hears the evidence and concludes “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the defendant is guilty, notwithstanding claimed self-defense, that verdict is not a “nullification” of the law; it is the application of the law. But in Abbot’s MAGA extremist administration, jury verdicts that run contrary to MAGA orthodoxy can be disregarded.

Overriding the justice system to advance partisan political ends is dangerous. If some Texans believe that the law does not apply to them, they will act lawlessly—exactly as Daniel Perry did when he shot a protester who was trying to make the point that Black lives matter to the same degree as white lives. Today, Governor Greg Abbott told Texans that is not true in Texas—and he did so by attacking the integrity of the jury trial system. The message and the means are antithetical to democracy.

New parade of GOP representatives appears at Trump trial

The “red tie” brigade was back in force at the Trump trial in Manhattan. About a dozen Republicans (mostly from Congress) appeared outside the courtroom to bash Judge Merchan, his family, and prosecutors. They filed into the courtroom as a phalanx, interrupting the cross-examination of Michael Cohen.

Why was Thursday’s spectacle worse than those on previous days? Because those who rose to show their support for Trump included Trump's indicted co-conspirator, Jeffrey Clark, as well as outcasts of the Freedom Caucus Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz.

In a particularly appalling statement, Gaetz posted a picture of Thursday’s parade of GOP officials at the trial alongside the caption, “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President.”

To be clear, Gaetz’s statement is a threat of violence against the judiciary if Trump is convicted. There is no other reasonable interpretation of the picture and caption in the context of the statements made outside the courtroom. See HuffPo, Matt Gaetz Parrots Trump’s Call To Proud Boys At His Trial.

The continued spectacle by Republican lawmakers is a clear violation of the gag order. The government officials are escorted into the courtroom and seated in seats reserved for Trump's defense team. As visible members of Trump's defense team, their statements are made on behalf of Trump. Judge Merchan should find Trump in contempt for those statements and order Trump to be detained. The failure of Judge Merchan to do so further undermines the authority of the judicial system.

While I am not criticizing Judge Merchan, it is clear that the willingness of Republican officials to break every norm of the rule of law has overwhelmed the ability of the judge to enforce the rules against Trump. And with the overlay of Gaetz’s threat of violence, Judge Merchan’s reluctance to apply the rule of law to Trump is understandable—though disappointing.

Here's my point: Thursday brought to the fore multiple examples of the MAGA effort to undermine the judiciary in the US. The only way to stop the attacks is to defeat Republicans up and down the ballot. The 2024 election is important for many reasons, not merely because we will re-elect Joe Biden. We must reverse the retrograde, reactionary MAGA movement to destroy one of the most important guardrails in democracy—a fair and independent judiciary.

Justice Alito dissents in case that would have triggered a Great Depression

On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In so holding, seven justices rejected a theory that would have declared two-thirds of federal funding unconstitutional and eliminated regulations that control the banking and financial markets. The banking industry was so alarmed that it begged the justices to save the CFPB and the regulations that instruct the industry on how to conduct business lawfully. See Ian Millhiser in Vox, The Supreme Court decides not to trigger a second Great Depression.

The case is notable because it represents another defeat for the rogue judges on the reactionary Fifth Circuit who are hellbent on destroying the federal system of regulation that is responsible for the orderly operation of the world’s largest economy. See Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, Supreme Court CFPB: The judicial arsonists went too far for the conservative justices this time.

But justices Alito and Gorsuch dissented, arguing that Congress must continually re-authorize and fund federal programs that are permanent fixtures of the American system of regulation. As Mark Joseph Stern notes, Alito cited to English history under King James to bolster his contention that the Supreme Court can strike down congressional appropriations:

To side with the 5th Circuit, Alito had to fixate on a somewhat random period of English history in the 17th century—from James I to Charles I—to assert that the Constitution empowers courts to strike down appropriations that they dislike.

Alito and Gorsuch are dangerous radicals whose voices must be overwhelmed by expanding the Court.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[hechelemasprintsbyreyna]

GOV ABBOTT HAS GOT TO GO! Unisex Tshirts

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[ms-boogie-man]

Angie/Maddie🦇❥✝︎🇺🇸

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[coochiequeens]

It's not pro-life if Women die.

Sept. 20, 2024

By Erika Edwards, Zinhle Essamuah and Jason Kane

The number of women in Texas who died while pregnant, during labor or soon after childbirth skyrocketed following the state’s 2021 ban on abortion care — far outpacing a slower rise in maternal mortality across the nation, a new investigation of federal public health data finds.

From 2019 to 2022, the rate of maternal mortality cases in Texas rose by 56%, compared with just 11% nationwide during the same time period, according to an analysis by the Gender Equity Policy Institute. The nonprofit research group scoured publicly available reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and shared the analysis exclusively with NBC News.

“There’s only one explanation for this staggering difference in maternal mortality,” said Nancy L. Cohen, president of the GEPI. “All the research points to Texas’ abortion ban as the primary driver of this alarming increase.” 

“Texas, I fear, is a harbinger of what’s to come in other states,” she said.

The SB 8 effect

The Texas Legislature banned abortion care as early as five weeks into pregnancy in September 2021, nearly a year before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — the case that protected a federal right to abortion — in June 2022. 

At the time, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, lauded the bill as a measure that “ensures the life of every unborn child.”

Texas law now prohibits all abortion except to save the life of the mother. 

The passage of Texas’ Senate Bill 8 gave GEPI researchers the opportunity to take an early look at how near-total bans on abortion — including cases in which the mother’s life was in danger — affected the health and safety of pregnant women. 

The SB 8 effect, Cohen’s team found, was swift and stark. Within a year, maternal mortality rose in all racial groups studied.

Maternal mortality rates in Texas

Deaths per 100,000 live births

This grouped bar chart compares maternal mortality rates among all women, Black women, Hispanic women and white women from 2019 to 2022. In all categories, rates were lowest in 2019. In most categories rates doubled from 2019 to 2021, then declined in 2022. Rates in 2022 are highest among Black women, followed by white women, all women, then Hispanic women.

Source: Gender Equity Policy Institute analysis of CDC data

Among Hispanic women, the rate of women dying while pregnant, during childbirth or soon after increased from 14.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 18.9 in 2022. Rates among white women nearly doubled — from 20 per 100,000 to 39.1. And Black women, who historically have higher chances of dying while pregnant, during childbirth or soon after, saw their rates go from 31.6 to 43.6 per 100,000 live births. While maternal mortality spiked overall during the pandemic, women dying while pregnant or during childbirth rose consistently in Texas following the state’s ban on abortion, according to the Gender Equity Policy Institute.

“If you deny women abortions, more women are going to be pregnant, and more women are going to be forced to carry a pregnancy to term,” Cohen said.

Beyond the immediate dangers of pregnancy and childbirth, there is growing evidence that women living in states with strict abortion laws, such as Texas, are far more likely to go without prenatal care and much less likely to find an appointment with an OB-GYN.

Doctors say the feeling among would-be moms is fear.

“Fear is something I’d never seen in practice prior to Senate Bill 8,” said Dr. Leah Tatum, an OB-GYN in private practice in Austin, Texas. Tatum, who was not involved with the GEPI study, said that requests for sterilization procedures among her patients doubled after the state’s abortion ban.

That is, women prefer to lose their ability to ever have children over the chance that they might become pregnant following SB 8.

“Patients feel like they’re backed into a corner,” Tatum said. “If they already knew that they didn’t want to pursue pregnancy, now they’re terrified.”

Tatum said she’s seeing many women in their late 30s and 40s who, even though they’d like to have a child, worry they wouldn’t have an option to end the pregnancy if it turned out that the baby wouldn’t be born healthy. “‘What happens if I end up with a genetically abnormal fetus?’” Tatum said her patients have asked her. They worry their options are limited, she said. ‘Treated like a criminal’

That unthinkable tragedy happened to Kaitlyn Kash, 37, of Austin, Texas. 

Kash had a textbook pregnancy with her first child, a healthy little boy, born in 2018. 

“It’d been so easy the first time,” she said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think we would go down the journey that we went down.”

When she became pregnant again, it wasn’t until Kash’s second trimester, at 13 weeks, that she and her husband, Cory, discovered that their fetus had severe skeletal dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder affecting bone and cartilage growth. It was highly unlikely the baby would survive. 

Kaitlyn Kash and her husband, Cory, at home with their two children.NBC News

“We were told that his bones would break in utero and he would suffocate at birth,” Kash said. “We were expecting our doctor to tell us how we were going to care for our baby, how we were going to end his pain.”It was October 2021, just a month after Texas passed the SB 8 abortion law. 

“We were told that we should get a second opinion, but make sure that it was outside of Texas,” she said. 

At 15 weeks, Kash had to travel to Kansas to terminate her doomed pregnancy. Outside the medical clinic, protesters harassed the grief-stricken mom. 

“I was being treated like a criminal,” she said. “I didn’t get the dignity that I deserved to say goodbye to my child.”

“It’s just another example of how it’s heartbreaking to practice in the state of Texas,” Tatum said. “These patients are asking for help. The state of Texas has failed women.”

CORRECTION (Sept. 21, 2024, 8:17 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the maternal mortality rates by demographic. The figures represent the number per 100,000 live births, not percentages.

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

Jason Kane is a producer in the NBC News Health & Medical Unit. 

[whatthehelloh]

Hey Texans, CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION!

[invincible-selfxmade-punk]

For all of you following my teaching drama with the covid generation this year: We found out a little while back that in Texas Greg Abbott is changing our Teaching Standards for social studies next year.

From what I understand, firstly, we will now no longer be teaching geography.

This is a huge problem because this year most of the kids could not tell the difference between cities, states, and countries. They seemed to think that Los Angeles was the state. They thought that Texas was bigger than Russia. They had no idea that Alaska and Hawaii were part of the United States among other atrocities.

We also will not be covering Native Americans or the trail of tears. I'm not sure what else is being erased or left out and I am honestly too scared to look into it just because of how depressing it is going to be.

I am really really afraid that in the coming years I will be forced to stop teaching the holocaust.

I am sitting here trying to figure out what tag this so it will get the most views but there are few words that can express my absolute disgust at this situation, or how appalling it is to have such few options in fighting it.

[reasoningdaily]

Gov. Greg Abbott will have to remove the floating buoy barrier he deployed in the Rio Grande without federal permission by the end of next week, a judge ruled Wednesday.

It’s a victory for the U.S. Justice Department, which has contended that Abbott violated federal law by deploying the barriers near Eagle Pass without first getting clearance from the Army Corps of Engineers. The Army Corps has oversight of all navigable waterways in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Texas scrambles to reposition buoy barrier in Rio Grande before court hearing

Abbott said he would appeal the ruling. "Texas is prepared to take this fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the Republican governor posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Just minutes after posting that message, his attorneys officially filed their appeal.

Abbott’s attorneys had argued that the barriers were not the type of structure that needed review by the Army Corps. In addition, they claimed that the Rio Grande, despite being one of the largest rivers in America, doesn't count as a navigable waterway because it doesn't include commercial shipping.

Judge David A. Ezra wasn’t moved by either argument, granting the Justice Department’s request that Abbott remove the barriers by Sept. 15.

Ezra said Congress determined long ago that the Rio Grande was navigable and no other body can change that designation.

"Once a water is found to be navigable by Congress, it remains so until Congress, not the courts, declares otherwise," Ezra wrote.

In addition, Ezra disputed the state's claim that the buoys were not subject to the federal Rivers and Harbors Act, saying the "floating barrier interferes with or diminishes the navigable capacity."

READ MORE: Republicans invoke Noah’s Ark in court to defend Greg Abbott’s border buoys

Abbott has featured the buoys as his latest phase of Operation Lone Star, the border security program that has also sent thousands of National Guard troops to the border, shipped migrants to other states, and deployed miles of razor wire along the Rio Grande to deter border crossings.

Abbott said he’s taking action along the border because of the federal government's inability to stop migrant crossings into Texas. Over the last two years, border patrol has encountered more than 4 million people along the entire southern border with Mexico. That is double the number of encounters from the previous two years.

Abbott has used those numbers to justify his border patrol program, which is costing taxpayers nearly $5 billion annually.

“I will do whatever I have to do to defend our state from the invasion of the Mexican drug cartels and others who are trying to come into our country illegally,” Abbott said last month in a speech to Republican officials. “I will protect our sovereignty.” 

While there has been a surge along the border over the last two years, federal data shows the numbers have generally been improving over the last several months. Combined June and July showed the lowest number of border encounters since 2020, when Donald Trump was still president.

[eggwhiteswithspinach]

👏 Gov. Greg Abbott Attacks Diversity and Inclusion Efforts in Texas

[kiramoore626]

Conservative states are blocking trans medical care. Families are fleeing.

Conservative states are blocking trans medical care. Families are fleeing.

Conservative states are blocking trans medical care. Families are fleeing. From Texas to Florida, families with kids who are medically transitioning say state policies limiting gender-affirming care are forcing them to flee.

[msclaritea]

Corsicana ISD educator injured by student could lose her eye, calls on Gov. Abbott to make changes - CBS Texas

This poor woman. I'll just bet Feminists won't say one fucking word on her behalf.

[notesfromthecactuspatch-blog]

"You Want Wire? Well Hoss, We Got Some Wire!"

There’s a sanctified saying that’s been used in Texas for at least 40 years, ” Don’t Mess With Texas,” and we damn well mean it. Our governor, Greg Abbot, has the cajones of a penned-up bull, giving the middle finger salute to those elitist som- bitches in Washington. Old Gov is now known as the “Crazy Texas Wire Dealer.”Here’s an excerpt from his commercial that’s running on the radio down by…

[xtruss]

Close-Up Video Shows Texas Floating Barrier Has Circular Saws

— By Khaleda Rahman | August 9, 2023 | Newsweek

Migrants walk after crossing the Rio Grande River into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas as seen from Piedras Negras, Coahuila State, Mexico on August 4, 2023. Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia has called the installation of the barrier "inhumane." Guillermo Arias/AFP Via Getty Images

The wrecking ball-sized buoys that make up the floating barrier that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott installed in July in the Rio Grande have circular saws between them, according to a video posted by Rep. Sylvia Garcia.

"Appalled by the ongoing cruel and inhumane tactics employed by @GovAbbott at the Texas border," Garcia, a Democrat, wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, alongside the clip. "The situation's reality is unsettling as these buoys' true danger and brutality come to light. We must stop this NOW!"

Mexican authorities said last week that two bodies had been recovered from the river in recent days, including one that was caught in the floating barrier. One body was found stuck in the lines of orange buoys, Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said in a statement on August 2. A second body was recovered about three miles upriver from the buoys, The Associated Press reported.

A repost of the video by Laiken Jordahl, a Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, amassed more than 8 million views.

The center is an environmental group where Jordahl works to protect wildlife, ecosystems, and public lands throughout the Southwest desert and U.S-Mexico borderlands, according to its website.

"Abbott has installed circular saws between the Rio Grande border buoys to maim or kill anyone who attempts to climb over," Jordahl wrote in the post. "Two bodies have already been found trapped in the floating barrier. He wants more migrants to die."

Jordahl told Newsweek: "Each day the floating wall, saw blades and concertina wire are allowed to stay up, more migrants will be injured or killed and more wildlife will suffer.

"Governor Abbott is turning this beautiful river into a death trap for people and wildlife. Our wildlands and communities will not be turned into war zones. Abbott must be stopped."

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Abbott over the barrier, after warning that it violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns for migrants crossing into the country from Mexico. The lawsuit is asking a court to force Texas to remove it.

"We allege that Texas has flouted federal law by installing a barrier in the Rio Grande without obtaining the required federal authorization," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement in late July.

"This floating barrier poses threats to navigation and public safety and presents humanitarian concerns. Additionally, the presence of the floating barrier has prompted diplomatic protests by Mexico and risks damaging U.S. foreign policy."

[loscerritoscommunitynews]

LAT: Migrants Sent to California Say They Were Duped & Abandoned by DeSantis

JUNE 17, 2023 SACRAMENTO —  They saw themselves in the video that Florida officials offered up as proof of their consent to travel to California, but they said it’s not what it seemed. They were happy, yes. That part was true. They had finally made it to America after traveling thousands of miles over the span of three months from their home in Venezuela. They walked until their feet bled and…

[the-corset-witch]

It's in my top 3 reasons of moving to Michigan, actually

Was at a friends apartment and she had me try 59% THC infused shake. Which is a thing now. Anyway one bowl later and I was having lsd flashbacks it hit me so fuckin hard