Greg Abbott is an Idiot.... [Archive]

Nbadan

02-22-2014, 12:00 AM

What else can you say about a crooked politician who files a complaint based on a film by......James O keefe

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2013/09/22/e3/e3/1013_TheGov_300w.jpg
Another Rich Politician...

Greg Abbott sends Battleground Texas complaint to Bexar County DA

Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office Friday recused itself from investigating complaints that voluntary deputy registrars affiliated with the Democratic group Battleground Texas might have violated the state election code by copying phone numbers off voter registration applications for future political use.

The complaints originally were filed with the secretary of state’s office in the wake of a Project Veritas undercover video, released Wednesday, of a Battleground Texas organizer in San Antonio describing the practice of copying down the phone numbers. The secretary of state’s office is not an investigative or enforcement agency, and the complaints were passed on to Abbott’s office. But Abbott, who is seeking his party’s nomination for governor, is likely to face Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, whose campaign is entwined with Battleground Texas, in the general election. So the attorney general recused himself, passing the matter on to the district attorney in Bexar County, where the alleged skirting of the election law took place.

-snip-

Amid howls of outrage from Republican officials, a D.C.-based spokesman for Battleground Texas — founded a year ago by alumni of the Obama presidential campaign to help turn Texas blue — defended the group as operating “in full compliance with the law” and said it was the victim of “inaccurate and misleading assertions by Republicans directed at one thing — making sure fewer Texans vote.”

“The allegations are based on footage by admitted criminal James O’Keefe whose partisan Republican antics of doctoring videos are well known,” the spokesman, Ellis Brachman, said. “Those associating themselves with him, making claims of fraud and using his rhetoric for their political gain should be ashamed of themselves. What is undoubtedly true is that if Republicans are willing to stoop to such transparent tactics then they are terrified of the prospect of more Texans going to the ballot box.”

“In the next few days we will send a more detailed response exposing these claims as utterly without foundation in Texas law,” Brachman said.

More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/greg-abbott-sends-battleground-texas-complaint-to-/ndYBG/ (subscription required).

boutons_deux

02-22-2014, 01:26 AM

Abbott's gonna RUN himself into a ditch.

Nbadan

02-22-2014, 03:23 AM

Up next.....Abbott files complaint based on story reported by the Onion....

boutons_deux

04-10-2014, 09:12 PM

Texas AG sides with hospital that allowed ‘sociopathic’ surgeon to maim, kill patients

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is going out of his way to defend four civil lawsuits against a hospital accused of allowing a “sociopathic” neurosurgeon to treat patients.
None of the suits name the state, but the Dallas Morning News reported (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/plano/headlines/20140325-abbott-sides-with-baylor-hospital-in-neurosurgeon-lawsuit.ece) that Abbott has asked a federal court for permission to represent Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano in the suits related to Dr. Christopher Duntsch.

The physician practiced medicine and performed “minimally invasive” spinal procedures in the north Texas area for two years before losing his license in 2013 after the deaths of two patients and the paralysis of four others.

The suits claim Baylor put revenue ahead of patient safety by overlooking the Duntsch’s substantial substance abuse issues and doing nothing to stop him from treating patients.
The physician told the newspaper Baylor made about $65,000 profit on each procedure he performed.

Former colleagues called Duntsch a sociopath and a “clear and present danger to patients,” (http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/20140301-planos-baylor-hospital-faces-hard-questions-after-claims-against-former-neurosurgeon.ece) and one doctor compared him to a serial killer.

Another surgeon was so alarmed by Duntsch’s actions that he took away his surgical tools in the middle of an operation.

The surgeon’s roommate and closest friend says Duntsch operated on him after a night of using cocaine, and he emerged from the surgery a quadriplegic.

Duntsch has since moved to Colorado and filed for bankruptcy, rendering him essentially judgment-proof, reported RH Reality Check (http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/04/10/texas-attorney-general-defends-hospital-employed-sociopathic-neurosurgeon/).

State law requires the plaintiffs to prove Baylor acted with actual intent to harm patients, but the suits claim that statute is unconstitutional.

Abbott, who is running for governor, has asked the court permission to defend the statute, although he is not required to do so.

If the law is upheld, patients would have a difficult time winning a suit against Baylor and collecting damages, and one of the plaintiffs’ attorney strongly criticized Abbott’s position.

“I think it’s absolutely insane that he has chosen to defend the hospital that enabled this … sociopathic neurosurgeon to wreak havoc on its patients,” said attorney James Girards. “I hate to think he’s doing it to pander to the medical lobby.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/10/texas-ag-sides-with-hospital-that-allowed-sociopathic-surgeon-to-maim-kill-patients/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

boutons_deux

05-28-2014, 10:49 AM

Abbott's taste, class is CRIPPLED

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/files/2014/05/ABORTION-BARBIE-570-225x300.jpg .....................http://edge1.politicususa.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/622x350.jpg

Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott is keeping it classy in Texas, where he refused to denounce the “Abortion Barbie” campaign posters that greeted Democratic state Senator Wendy Davis in California Thursday. It turns out that one of his supporters funded the posters.

Kathryn Stuard told the San Antonio Express-News (http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Conservative-Midland-woman-funds-Abortion-5499208.php) “she donated an undisclosed amount to conservative street artist ‘Sabo’ to create the posters, which portray Davis’ face over a semi-naked Barbie doll with an exposed fetus in the womb.”

Sabo describes himself as a conservative and a Republican, according to San Antonio Express-News. Stuard claims that the campaign had nothing to do with the posters, she just felt like commissioning 20 of these nasty posters to greet Abbott’s Democratic rival for the Texas gubernatorial race, Wendy Davis, and Stuard just so happened to use the campaign strategy that Erick Erickson promised would alienate Latinos, in Los Angeles.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/05/22/greg-abbott-refuses-denounce-abortion-barbie-campaign-posters-aimed-wendy-davis.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Americans "Christians" are OK with this abortion crap, but showing a woman's nipples? HORRORS!

boutons_deux

05-29-2014, 05:50 AM

Texas Republican Greg Abbott Tries to Bury His Court Fight With 600 School Districts in the Past

Greg Abbott’s battle with 600 school districts over draconian budget cuts is proving insurmountable in his attempt to brand himself as a pro education candidate.The bottom line is you can’t say with a straight face that you are pro-education while defending budget cuts which resulted in overcrowded classrooms, closed schools and unemployed teachers. No rational person is going to buy that line, let alone the parents and teachers at schools that are living with the results of budget cuts that Abbott continues to defend in court.At least, Greg Abbott or someone on his team finally figured out that trying to convince a school you are fighting in court that you are pro education continues to be an epic disaster. Unfortunately, his new tactic is just as awkward.

Abbot’s court battle with the school districts over budget cuts is an ongoing case. Last year, a lower court found that the cuts Abbott is defending are unconstitutional. According toBloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/texas-school-districts-challenge-funding-as-unfair.html), District Court Judge John Dietz ruled:

The court declares the current school finance system violates the Texas Constitution in that it is inefficient, inequitable, and unsuitable and arbitrarily funds districts at different levels below the constitutionally required level of the general diffusion of knowledge,

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/04/30/texas-republican-greg-abbott-bury-court-fight-600-school-districts.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29[/COLOR]

boutons_deux

06-20-2014, 03:51 PM

Republican Attorney-General Greg Abbott Humiliated in Federal Court Ruling

In a ruling on attorney’s fees related to a redistricting case, a Federal Court Judge dealt Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott two doses of humiliation. Aside from ruling (http://www.lonestarproject.net/sites/default/files/Fee%20Opinion%206.18.14.pdf) in favor of the groups involved for the full amount of nearly $1 million (http://www.statesman.com/news/news/texas-must-pay-legal-fees-in-redistricting-case-ju/ngNnw/)they requested, the opening paragraph of Judge Rosemary M. Collyer’s decision is anything but an endorsement of Abbott’s competence and attitude on this issue.

This matter presents a case study in how not to respond to a motion for attorney fees and costs. … rather than engage the fee applicants, Plaintiff Texas basically ignores the arguments supporting an award of fees and costs. In a three-page filing entitled “Advisory,” Texas trumpets the Supreme Court’s decision, expresses indignation at having to respond at all, and presumes that the motion for attorney fees is so frivolous that Texas need not provide further briefing in opposition unless requested. Such an opposition is insufficient in this jurisdiction. Circuit precedent and the Local Rules of this Court provide that the failure to respond to an opposing party’s arguments results in waiver as to the unaddressed contentions, and the Court finds that Texas’s “Advisory” presents no opposition on the applicable law. Accordingly, the Court will award the requested fees and costs.

One doesn’t have to be a lawyer to understand the Court’s sentiments about Abbott’s conduct in this matter. The fact is Abbott and the Texas GOP beleve they should be free to suppress the votes of racial minorities, women and poor people. They also believe they should be able gerrymander districts so that those who survive the bureaucratic nightmare that goes with voting in Texas will count for as little as possible. They believe it because it’s also the only way their can maintain their choke hold on political power.

As great believers in the U.S. constitution, oversight and accountability, Texas Republicans resent the Voting Rights Act because it requires oversight and accountability of states like Texas that have a long history of suppressing votes and violating the one-person one vote principle.After all, the Texas GOP has been calling for its repeal for years and it plans to reaffirm (http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/texas-republicans-call-repealing-the-voting-rights-act%20that) position as stated on page 11 (http://www.texasgop.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-Platform-Final.pdf) their 2014 platform “We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965, codified and updated in 1973, be repealed and not reauthorized.”The fact that Texas violated the Voting Rights Act (http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/texas-redistricting-district-court.pdf) with its redistricting efforts in 2011 proves the VRA remains necessary to protect the voting rights of Texans from their state’s Attorney-General and his political ambitions. Texas is also one reason that Congress should get moving on an updated pre-clearance formula (http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-announces-june-25-hearing-on-the_voting-rights-amendment-act) that has been languishing because of Republican obstructionism since January this year. Fortunately,hearings (http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/the-voting-rights-amendment-act-s1945_updating-the-voting-rights-act-in-response-to-shelby-county-v-holder) on the proposed law will occur next Wednesday.

This case is the latest confirmation that, if elected, Abbott has no desire to represent the interests and concerns of all Texas. He already proved that his priority is to care about the interests of his financial backers above those of Texas cancer victims. His education policy proves that his priority is to restrict access to education based on standardized tests for four year olds.If elected, Greg Abbott would be the same arrogant and incompetent man he is in the courtroom, as governor.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/19/texas-attorney-general-humiliated-federal-court-ruling.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29

Abbott, Perry are examples of the incompetence, misgovernance resulting from Repugs everywhere acting like their extreme ideology trumps all laws, regulations, ethics, and government itself.

boutons_deux

07-08-2014, 08:38 AM

Greg Abbott's 'drive around' asking where chemicals are stored plan works as well as you'd expect (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/03/1311447/-Greg-Abbott-s-drive-around-asking-where-chemicals-are-stored-plan-works-as-well-as-you-d-expect)

After blocking the public from seeing state records detailing where dangerous chemicals are being stored, Texas attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott says Texans concerned about the issue should just "drive around" (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/02/1311234/-Republican-Greg-Abbott-Just-drive-around-to-ask-every-facility-whether-they-have-chemicals?detail=hide) to companies asking them what chemicals they store. :lol

"You can ask them if they do, and they can tell you, well, we do have chemicals or we don't have chemicals, and if they do, they tell which ones they have," Abbott said. Well.

Who could have predicted (http://www.wfaa.com/news/investigates/Texas-AG-tells-citizens-to-get-chemical-lists-from-businesses-not-the-state-265620211.html) that things might not work out exactly that way?

WFAA chose a couple businesses not far from downtown Dallas. First up was Oxy Chemical, where the plant manager seemed eager to comply. But, 15 minutes later, things started to look less promising. WFAA was told to take up the request with an Oxy Chemical corporate communications manager in Los Angeles. That manager said he wasn't familiar with Tier II sheets nor Attorney General Abbott's directive for businesses to merely turn them over to the public. WFAA left empty handed.

Another company actually closed its gates on the reporters when they attempted to get video of chemicals being stored in plain sight.

So for Texans, the whereabouts of large quantities of dangerous chemicals is going to remain a mystery, even though their attorney general and would-be governor says "You, as a community member of this state, can go to any chemical facility in the entire state of Texas and say, 'Identify for me all chemicals you have on your facility.' And you are entitled to get that information." :lol

But when the attorney general has already blocked the information from public release, exactly who is going to enforce the rights of the "community member of this state"? :lol

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/03/1311447/-Greg-Abbott-s-drive-around-asking-where-chemicals-are-stored-plan-works-as-well-as-you-d-expect?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos %29

Fucking TX Repugs and the all y'all asshole bubbas and rednecks who elect them! :lol

boutons_deux

07-08-2014, 02:56 PM

34 Most Demented Things in the Texas GOP Platform

The Texas GOP unveiled its platform recently, and it is one scary, feverish document. As Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker puts it: (http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/07/texas-republican-new-party-platform.html) [3]

The thing is, the Republican Party of Texas has a dream. Lots of dreams: its platform, unveiled last week, has sixteen thousand words’ worth. The road it maps is anything but royal; these good people, after all, are republicans, albeit with a capital “R.” But the document does lead to the G.O.P.’s unconscious, or part of it: its fearsome, rampaging id.

What is troubling is that, as much as we'd like to, this document can't just be dismissed as coming from some crazy outlier group. This is the official Republican party representing the state from which we got our last Republican president, is bound to run some more, and is one of the biggest states in the Union, with lots of electoral votes.

Yikes!

Here are 34 other highlights of the 40-page document:

1. On nullification:
• The Texas Legislature should nullify—indeed, “ignore, oppose, refuse, and nullify”—federal laws it doesn’t like. (Yes, you read that right, Texas Republicans want to be able to ignore or nullify federal laws it does not agree with. Note to Texas, the Supreme Court has shot down every state's attempt to 'nullify' federal laws since 1809. Then again, with today's court, you never know.)

2. On doing away with most federal agencies:
• When it comes to “unelected bureaucrats”—i.e., pretty much the entire federal work force above the janitorial level—Congress should “defund and abolish these positions.” (There is a long laundry list of federal agencies that the Texas GOP would like to see defunded and abolished, many more than Rick Perry could not remember. But it does start with the EPA, because the right to pollute, and also for the Koch Brothers and others to be able to store dangerous chemicals (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/08/maddow-koch-friendly-texas-gop-loosens-chemical-safety-rules-despite-explosions/) [4] in secret places and wherever the hell they want to even close to schools and communities, is sacred.

3. On not electing Senators:
• The Seventeenth Amendment, which was adopted in 1913, be repealed, so that “the appointment of United States Senators” can again be made by state legislators, not by voters. (Senators should be appointed not elected. So, Texas should be able to repeal the parts of the Constitution that it does not agree with.)

4. On choice:
We strongly support a woman’s right to choose to devote her life to her family and children.

5. On being pro-life, except sometimes:
We revere the sanctity of human life and therefore oppose genocide, euthanasia, and assisted suicide. Also, properly applied capital punishment is legitimate, is an effective deterrent, and should be swift and unencumbered.

6. On marriage:
We support the definition of marriage as a God-ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman.

7. And, just to be clear:
We oppose the recognition of and granting of benefits to people who represent themselves as domestic partners without being legally married.

8. On homosexuality:
Homosexuality is a chosen behavior that is contrary to the fundamental unchanging truths that have been ordained by God in the Bible, recognized by our nation’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples. We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin.

9. But we're willing to help gay people with this totally discredited approach:
We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.

10-26. Here is a partial list of what the Texas GOP would like to see abolished:
• Personal-income taxes
• Property taxes
• Estate taxes
• Capital-gains taxes
• Franchise and business-income taxes
• The gift tax
• Minimum-wage laws
• Social Security (“We support an immediate and orderly transition to a system of private pensions”)
• The Environmental Protection Agency
•The Department of Education and all its functions
• “Unelected bureaucrats”
• “Any and all federal agencies not based on an enumerated power granted by the United States Federal Constitution”
• Congressional pensions
• Supreme Court jurisdiction in cases involving abortion, religious freedom, and the Bill of Rights
• The Federal Reserve
• “Foreign aid, except in cases of national defense or catastrophic disasters, with Congressional approval”
• Obamacare

27.-30. And here are some things that Texas Republicans can get behind:
• Withdrawal from the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the World Bank
• “Traditional methods of discipline, including corporal punishment”
• “Reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education institutions.”
• Returning to “the time-tested precious metal standard for the United States dollar.”

More random crazy stuff:

31. Israel:
Our policy is inspired by God’s biblical promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel and we further invite other nations and organizations to enjoy the benefits of that promise.

32. Climate change:
While we all strive to be good stewards of the earth, “climate change” is a political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives. We urge government at all levels to ignore any plea for money to fund global climate change or “climate justice” initiatives.

33. On immunizations:
All adult citizens should have the legal right to conscientiously choose which vaccines are administered to themselves, or their minor children, without penalty for refusing a vaccine. We oppose any effort by any authority to mandate such vaccines.

34. And finally, on guns, the most sacred right of all. Per Hertzberg:
In the opinion of the Republican Party of Texas, as set forth in its platform, the Second Amendment flatly decrees that “no level of government shall regulate either the ownership or possession of firearms.” No level, no regulation: the somewhat mentally ill, therefore, are not the only dubious characters whose right to assemble private arsenals the Amendment guarantees. Psychotics, sociopaths, the terroristically inclined, and violent criminals out on bail or parole are similarly privileged. (However, “disenfranchisement of convicted felons” is O.K.)
Perhaps the Texas Republicans don’t really mean what they say. Perhaps there’s just something about guns that overstimulates them.

Consider this outburst:

All federal acts, laws, executive orders, and court orders which restrict or infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms shall be invalid in Texas, not be recognized by Texas, shall be specifically rejected by Texas, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in Texas.There’s more—much more—where all this comes from (http://s3.amazonaws.com/static.texastribune.org/media/documents/2014_Republican_Party_of_Texas_Platform.pdf) [5]. No doubt you will have your own favorites. I’ve only scratched the surface.

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/34-most-demented-things-texas-gop-platform?akid=12000.187590.cf-BUL&rd=1&src=newsletter1010097&t=2&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

All y'all TX rednecks, bubbas, Bible thumpers, gun fellators really know how to vote EXCELLENT people into office.

Nbadan

07-16-2014, 01:56 AM

Greg Abbott is being blasted by the media, online activists and Texas citizens for his decision to side with chemical producers like the notorious Koch Industries and against Texas families. And today, Democratic attorney general candidate Sam Houston will begin a series of briefings explaining why Abbott's ruling was not just bad policy but a bad interpretation of law.

Abbott reversed the requirement that companies must inform the public when they are storing dangerous chemicals that might burn or explode—like what happened in West, Texas just last year.

Rather than admit his mistake, apologize for putting Texas families in danger and reverse his decision, Abbott pathetically tried to dodge responsibility by saying that he was “unaware” that his office had made the decision to let companies keep their dangerous chemical stockpiles secret.

In the weeks ahead, Greg Abbott will be called on to explain and justify a whole series of actions he has taken that benefit his insider friends and donors while hurting Texas men, women and their families. We expect he will attempt to dodge responsibility with misleading statements and weak excuses unfitting of a person seeking to lead the state of Texas.

boutons_deux

07-16-2014, 05:16 AM

Abbott even more stupid, ignorant, tone deaf than RickyBobby.

pgardn

07-16-2014, 10:49 AM

This is exactly how a Republican should act in this State.
If he wants to be re-elected.

This State is loaded with dumbass Republicans.

boutons_deux

08-15-2014, 11:28 AM

... sez TX will not Turn Blue

Changing South Is at Intersection of Demographics and Politics

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/15/upshot/changing-south-is-at-intersection-of-demographics-and-politics.html?_r=0

boutons_deux

08-31-2014, 10:51 PM

Court Humiliates Greg Abbott (Again) And Crushes his Unconstitutional Attack on Public Education

Greg Abbott had another bad day in court on Thursday. He has a lot of those. In June, a Federal Court (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/19/texas-attorney-general-humiliated-federal-court-ruling.html) knocked him down to size in a dispute about attorney fees and courts costs in Abbott’sfailed attempt (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/08/29/%20http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/texas-redistricting-district-court.pdf) to salvage gerrymandering and vote suppression.

This time, an Austin judge dealt a devastating blow to Greg Abbott’s campaign against public education. In District court Judge John Dietz’s 404 page ruling (http://www.statesman.com/documents/2014/aug/28/school-finance-final-judgment/), he concludes that the Lone Star state’s school financing system is unconstitutional, unfair and insufficient.

The Texas Taxpayer and Student Fairness Coalition et al challenged a state policy that “improperly controls local property taxation” Moreover, “the evidence clearly establishes that local districts do not have meaningful discretion in the levy, assessment and disbursement of property taxes; therefore the Texas school financing system imposes an unconstitutional state property tax.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/08/29/court-humiliates-greg-again-crushes-unconstitutional-attack-public-education-financing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29 (http://www.politicususa.com/2014/08/29/court-humiliates-greg-again-crushes-unconstitutional-attack-public-education-financing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politi cus+USA+%29)

so the Repugs' beloved "states (racist, secessionist) rights" trumps Fed law, but Repugs' states law trumps municipal laws,regs, once again exposing Repugs as hypocrites and liars.

boutons_deux

09-02-2014, 09:44 AM

Abbott’s Houston raid didn’t end with arrests, but shut down voter drive

On an overcast Monday afternoon, officers in bulletproof vests swept into a house on Houston’s north side. The armed deputies and agents served a search warrant. They carted away computers, hard drives and documents.

The raid targeted a voter registration group called Houston Votes, which was accused of election fraud. It was initiated by investigators for Attorney General Greg Abbott. His aides say he is duty-bound to preserve the integrity of the ballot box. :lol

His critics, however, say that what Abbott has really sought to preserve is the power of the Republican Party in Texas. They accuse him of political partisanship, targeting key Democratic voting blocs, especially minorities and the poor, in ways that make it harder for them to vote, or for their votes to count.

A close examination of the Houston Votes case reveals the consequences when an elected official pursues hotly contested allegations of election fraud.

The investigation was closed one year after the raid, with no charges filed. But for Houston Votes, the damage was done. Its funding dried up, and its efforts to register more low-income voters ended. Its records and office equipment never were returned. Instead, under a 2013 court order obtained by Abbott’s office, they were destroyed.

And the dramatic, heavily armed raid never was necessary, according to Fred Lewis, president of Texans Together, the nonprofit parent group of Houston Votes. “They could have used a subpoena,” he said. “They could have called us and asked for the records. They didn’t need guns.”

The previously unreported 2010 raid coincided with agitation by a local tea party group and Lewis’ testimony in the trial of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. Lewis had filed a complaint against DeLay that, in large part, led to his indictment on corruption charges.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20140830-abbotts-houston-raid-didnt-end-with-arrests-but-shut-down-voter-drive.ece

Freedom!

Liberty!

Water the Tree!

Democracy!

Fuck every non-Repug OVER AND OVER AND OVER!

Desertic, corrupt, polluted, red neckTexas really really sucks.

boutons_deux

09-04-2014, 04:33 PM

Judge blasts 'expert witnesses' called to defend Texas anti-abortion law (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/03/1326895/-Judge-blasts-expert-witnesses-called-to-defend-Texas-anti-abortion-law)

An interesting tidbit about the Texas anti-abortion law that got struck down in part last week: The judge's disgust with how the state's "expert witnesses" conducted themselves. Specifically, that longtime anti-abortion crank and/or "consultant" and/or "expert witness" Vincent Rue had a large hand in how the other "expert witnesses" presented their cases (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/federal-judge-texas-abortion-clinic-vincent-rue):

[US District Judge Lee Yeakel] ultimately discarded the testimony of four expert witnesses because of Rue's "considerable editorial and discretionary control" over their written reports and testimony: James C. Anderson, the chair of Virginia Physicians for Life; Deborah Kitz, a health care consultant from Pennsylvania; Peter Uhlenberg, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; and Dr. Mayra Jimenez Thompson, an OB-GYN and University of Texas-Southwestern professor.Emails showed that that Rue sent Uhlenberg sources, "ideas," and "fact changes."

In one message, Uhlenberg wrote, "I need your critical suggestions." Kitz wrote Rue an email that said, "Tried to use as much of your material as I could, but time ran out." Anderson testified that Rue was responsible for "wordsmithing" his report to the court. Rue has tapped Anderson as an expert witness in four other states that paid Anderson more than $110,000.

So a judge is calling shenanigans on the whole cottage industry of faux-experts going to different states en masse in an organized effort to bend the law according to whatever a half-dozen people are willing to say in court in exchange for money. Well, at least this collection of people. This one time.In addition to the witnesses collaborating as to what they were going to say, the state's attorneys made an apparent effort to hide that effort, with witnesses only admitting to the collaboration when the plaintiffs "refreshed their memories (http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-08-22/meet-the-anti-abortion-wordsmith-defending-hb-2/)" with emails proving that it happened. That also earned the wrath of the judge, but hey—it's the Culture of Life, not the Culture of Not Lying Thine Ass Off.

A bigger question is why Texas called on Vincent "post-abortion stress syndrome" Rue at all. As with recent anti-marriage equality state efforts, it seems fair to judge the caliber of the state's argument from the caliber of "witnesses" they can dredge up to support it. If a state defending a high-profile law can only muster the forces of a longtime discredited hack or two from the traveling discredited hack circus-slash-medicine wagon, that right there should suggest to any reasonable observer that there isn't, in fact, any more serious case to be made.

As a side point, if Attorney General Greg Abbott truly intends to use his office as a stepping stone to the governor's office, he might want to not be terrible at it (http://blogs.houstonpress.com/news/2014/09/court_scolds_abbott_for_late_appeal_on_abortion_ru ling.php).

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/03/1326895/-Judge-blasts-expert-witnesses-called-to-defend-Texas-anti-abortion-law?detail=email

RandomGuy

09-05-2014, 08:36 AM

boutons_deux

09-05-2014, 08:49 AM

With Congressional Repugs pushing their approval down to 10% range, their scorched-earth obstructionism has disgusted 10Ms of voters, many into disaffection so severe, the cynicism so complete, that they won't'/don't vote, which is exactly what the Repug/VRWC strategy wants. Repugs win in purple states when non-Repug/disaffected voters don't vote.

iow, the better the Repugs are in MISgoverning/NON-governing, the better their chances are at MORE power to fuck up America.

Congress has 10% approval, but 90% of incumbents are re-elected.

boutons_deux

09-05-2014, 10:41 AM

The Republican efforts to fight voter registration drives is one of the most cynical and despicable things that GOP leadership does, IMO.

Confederate racists still screwing the slave descendants trying to maintain their right to vote

Police Arrest Young Black Politician For Distributing Voting Rights Leaflets (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/02/3477768/police-arrest-young-black-politician-at-moral-mondays-rally/)

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA—The stars of North Carolina’s Moral Mondays (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/07/23/2340581/moral-monday-protester-arrests-hit-900/) movement took the stage on Labor Day at Charlotte’s Marshall Park to condemn the state’s record on voter suppression and racial profiling, and urge the community to organize and turn out at the polls this November. Just a few hundred feet away, police cuffed and arrested local LGBT activist (http://equalitync.org/pac/voterguide2014/) and former State Senate candidate (http://www.tyturner.net/) Ty Turner as he was putting voting rights information on parked cars.

“They said they would charge me for distributing literature,” Turner told ThinkProgress when he was released a few hours later. “I asked [the policeman] for the ordinance number [being violated], because they can’t put handcuffs on you if they cannot tell you why they’re detaining you. I said, ‘Show me where it’s illegal to do this.’ But he would not do it. The officer got mad and grabbed me. Then he told me that I was resisting arrest!”

There is a local ordinance (https://library.municode.com/HTML/19970/level3/PTIICOOR_CH15OFMIPR_ARTIINGE.html#PTIICOOR_CH15OFM IPR_ARTIINGE_S15-1DIHAADLEPAOTMA) prohibiting leafleting on cars. But according to local activist Casey Throneburg, who also filmed the arrest, it is almost never enforced, and “certainly not with handcuffs.”

Instead of transporting Turner directly to the Mecklenburg County jail, which sits just a few blocks from Marshall Park, he said they took him first to an empty parking lot behind the highway. “They took me to three different spots other than the jail,” he said. “They knew they were in the wrong.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/02/3477768/police-arrest-young-black-politician-at-moral-mondays-rally/

boutons_deux

09-05-2014, 10:53 AM

"The Republican efforts to fight voter registration drives is one of the most cynical and despicable things that GOP leadership does,"

This May Be The Strongest Voting Rights Decision Since The Justices Hobbled The Voting Rights Act (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/04/3478929/this-may-be-the-strongest-voting-rights-decision-since-the-justices-hobbled-the-voting-rights-act/)

Ohio’s attempt to reduce the number of days voters may cast an early ballot (http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/072_order_granting_pi.pdf) is unconstitutional and violates the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act (VRA), according to a decision handed down Thursday by a federal court in that state.

Though the decision has a difficult road to travel before Ohio voters can be certain that it will stand — it will appeal to the Sixth Circuit, which has a conservative majority (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/09/3446354/brace-yourselves-marriage-equalitys-going-to-have-a-rougher-ride-in-the-courts-from-here-on-out/), and ultimately to the same Supreme Court that struck down a key provision of the VRA (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/06/25/2212281/two-hours-after-the-supreme-court-gutted-the-voting-rights-act-texas-ag-suppresses-minority-voters/) — Judge Peter Economus’ decision may be the strongest voting rights decision handed down since the justices’ attack on the VRA. Or, at least, it may be the strongest decision in the sense that it calls for a very strong shield to be erected around the right to vote. If his reasoning is ultimately upheld by a higher court, that would be a serious blow to efforts by many state lawmakers to enact laws restricting the franchise.

Much of Judge Economus’ opinion is devoted to explaining how limits on early voting disproportionately impact African-American voters. Many black churches, for example, conduct “Souls to the Polls” events that encourage churchgoers to vote after attending Sunday services — as an Ohio NAACP leader explained, “Sunday was a focal point also because many churches already provide transportation to take people to church, and carpools are also arranged so that everyone is together” — yet the new restrictions on early voting limit these churchgoers’ opportunities to vote on Sunday.

Additionally, the new early voting schedule eliminates “Golden Week,” a period when voters can register and vote on the same day. The same NAACP leader testified that African-Americans are especially likely to take advantage of this period because “people in the African-American community in [his community] move frequently, especially since the 2008 recession.”

Empirical data also demonstrates that black voters are more likely to take advantage of early voting. Indeed, according to University of Florida Research Professor Daniel Smith, an expert witness who testified in this case, the rate of early voting in areas that are entirely African-American is more than twice the rate in areas that are entirely white. Additionally, Smith explained that “there is strong empirical evidence in Ohio that a greater proportion of blacks not only cast [early] ballots than whites but do so on early voting days that have been eliminated by” the new voting schedule.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/04/3478929/this-may-be-the-strongest-voting-rights-decision-since-the-justices-hobbled-the-voting-rights-act/

for the ignorant: Repug OH/Blackwell screwed the 2004 vote counting to throw OH and the election to dubya.

Repugs hate voting fraud (actually very hard, and essentially non-existent), but the adore counting fraud (esp easy with Repug-corporation voting machines).

TeyshaBlue

09-05-2014, 10:55 AM

Wendy Davis' adds have been very aggressive. I hope they are effective as well. Her PR gang have got it all over Abbott right now.

boutons_deux

09-23-2014, 08:11 PM

Confederate racists still screwing the slave descendants trying to maintain their right to vote

Police Arrest Young Black Politician For Distributing Voting Rights Leaflets (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/02/3477768/police-arrest-young-black-politician-at-moral-mondays-rally/)

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA—The stars of North Carolina’s Moral Mondays (http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/07/23/2340581/moral-monday-protester-arrests-hit-900/) movement took the stage on Labor Day at Charlotte’s Marshall Park to condemn the state’s record on voter suppression and racial profiling, and urge the community to organize and turn out at the polls this November. Just a few hundred feet away, police cuffed and arrested local LGBT activist (http://equalitync.org/pac/voterguide2014/) and former State Senate candidate (http://www.tyturner.net/) Ty Turner as he was putting voting rights information on parked cars.

“They said they would charge me for distributing literature,” Turner told ThinkProgress when he was released a few hours later. “I asked [the policeman] for the ordinance number [being violated], because they can’t put handcuffs on you if they cannot tell you why they’re detaining you. I said, ‘Show me where it’s illegal to do this.’ But he would not do it. The officer got mad and grabbed me. Then he told me that I was resisting arrest!”

There is a local ordinance (https://library.municode.com/HTML/19970/level3/PTIICOOR_CH15OFMIPR_ARTIINGE.html#PTIICOOR_CH15OFM IPR_ARTIINGE_S15-1DIHAADLEPAOTMA) prohibiting leafleting on cars. But according to local activist Casey Throneburg, who also filmed the arrest, it is almost never enforced, and “certainly not with handcuffs.”

Instead of transporting Turner directly to the Mecklenburg County jail, which sits just a few blocks from Marshall Park, he said they took him first to an empty parking lot behind the highway. “They took me to three different spots other than the jail,” he said. “They knew they were in the wrong.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/02/3477768/police-arrest-young-black-politician-at-moral-mondays-rally/

454 NC voters had ballots rejected in May primary, advocacy group says

Voter advocates and watchdog groups on Wednesday urged voters to prepare for the Nov. 4 elections by ensuring they’re registered at their current addresses before the Oct. 10 deadline, among other precautions aimed at ensuring their votes count.

Bob Hall, executive director of the Durham-based watchdog group Democracy North Carolina, and others held a news conference outside the State Board of Elections office in Raleigh. There, Hall said his organization reviewed records of thousands of provisional ballots cast in the May primary and found 454 were rejected because of election law changes enacted by the General Assembly in 2013.

The voters, Hall said, either weren’t able to register and vote during the early voting period because of the elimination of “same-day registration,” or they tried to cast provisional ballots outside their home precincts on Election Day, which is no longer allowed, and the ballots were rejected.

Hall cited names and home towns of voters whose ballots weren’t counted in May that would have been counted in 2012, before the law changes – which are being challenged in court – took effect. He mentioned Granville County resident Craig Thomas, who returned from serving in the Army in Afghanistan and went to vote early and found his registration was inactive. He cast a provisional ballot that wasn’t counted. Under the old system, he could have registered and voted the same day.

“These are real people. These are folks from all walks of life,” Hall said.

Hall suggested that the number of voters affected by the new laws passed by the Republican-led Legislature far outnumbers the number of potential fraud cases the laws were aimed at preventing.
“When they bring up cases of fraud, they’re talking about cases of three and four and five,” Hall said. “This is 450 people who were denied the right to vote in one primary election where you have small turnout. ... We could have thousands in the general (election), even in an off year.”

Hall and others on Wednesday urged voters to check their registrations at NCVoter.org (http://ncvoter.org/)to make sure they are registered at their current addresses. They also advised voters to vote early, as some problems can be fixed at that time that can’t be fixed on Election Day. And, if voters wait until Nov. 4 to vote, they must vote in their home precincts.

“Most of these folks who were disenfranchised (in May) thought they could vote out of precinct, the way we’ve been doing it for several years now, and they were turned away,” Hall said.
Hall reiterated that preparation is key.

“For any big event in your life, you should be prepared,” he said. “Take that to heart with voting.”

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/10/4139800/454-people-had-ballots-rejected.html

RandomGuy

09-24-2014, 04:42 PM

RandomGuy

09-24-2014, 04:47 PM

The Texas GOP is playing hardball, and trying to do whatever they can to discourage Democrats to vote.

This is, to me, so bizarrely self-defeating in the long run, that I can just shake my head at the stupidity. Cynical bullshit like the voter ID law will be, I hope, remembered for a long time by the targeted minorities.

As Democrat, I would far prefer winning on ideas, since the GOP tends to have almost none, other than "Obummer bad" like some collective Frankenstein reacting to a torch.

I take it all back if any Republican can tell me how to fix our healthcare system, with something vaguely credible.

TeyshaBlue

09-24-2014, 08:22 PM

I already have.

Th'Pusher

09-24-2014, 09:09 PM

I already have.
Except your fix to healthcare is more liberal than Obamacare...but glad it's coming from a "republican"

TeyshaBlue

09-24-2014, 09:41 PM

Actually, it could easily be described as fiscally conservative.

Nbadan

09-24-2014, 10:56 PM

Actually, it could easily be described as fiscally conservative.

Considering the slow down in the inflation rate of healthcare after the AHCA...so could Obamacare...

boutons_deux

09-25-2014, 04:53 AM

I already have.

:lol "outcome no matter what the cost is the only metric!" :lol

boutons_deux

09-25-2014, 04:58 AM

Long Lines at Minority Polling Places

Some of the longest lines on Election Day occur at polling places in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. A new report says that’s not a coincidence.

In the three states with the longest lines in 2012, precincts in minority neighborhoods were systematically deprived of the resources they needed to make voting operate smoothly — specifically, voting machines and poll workers, according to the report by the Brennan Center for Justice (http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/election-day-long-lines-resource-allocation). The report’s data show the growing need for federal supervision of voting rights, though ensuring supervision is harder than ever since the Supreme Court removed the teeth from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 last year.

The report looked at Maryland, South Carolina and Florida, where many voters waited for hours to cast a vote in the 2012 presidential election. In all three, minority precincts were more likely to have had long lines. In South Carolina, the 10 precincts with the longest waits had more than twice the percentage of black registered voters, on average, than the rest of the state.

There was a clear relationship in those states between the racial makeup of a precinct and the number of voting machines it received from the state or county. In Maryland, the 10 precincts with the lowest number of machines per voter had more than twice the average percentage of Hispanic voters. In South Carolina, the law requires one voting machine per 250 voters, but that requirement is routinely violated in minority areas. Richland County, which is about half black, had a precinct with 432 voters per machine, which contributed to extensive delays.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/opinion/long-lines-at-minority-polling-places.html

TeyshaBlue

09-25-2014, 06:22 AM

:lol "outcome no matter what the cost is the only metric!" :lol

That's not what I wrote, fucking coward.

Th'Pusher

09-25-2014, 06:43 AM

Actually, it could easily be described as fiscally conservative.
Yes. Single payer is fiscally conservative. Won't argue with you there, but 95% of conservatives would. It's time you disassociate yourself with that shit party.

TeyshaBlue

09-25-2014, 06:51 AM

Yeah...the party of HRC really has me excited. :facepalm

Th'Pusher

09-25-2014, 06:54 AM

Yeah...the party of HRC really has me excited. :facepalm
Question, who would you vote for if your choices were Elisabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders , Ted Cruz or Ron Paul.

TeyshaBlue

09-25-2014, 07:01 AM

Good straw question.

Warren. Will re-evaluate my choices in the unlikely event the DNC allows her to run some day.

boutons_deux

09-25-2014, 10:58 AM

Any Dem president is worthless without a Dem control of House and Senate.

A rapid acceleration in decline of USA will be inevitable, unavoidable when the Repugs next control House,Senate,WH along with their control of SCOTUS.

RandomGuy

09-25-2014, 12:20 PM

I already have.

Hmmm. Refresh my memory. I know we have talked about it at length through the years. (sound old saying that, erk)

TeyshaBlue

09-25-2014, 12:59 PM

Dovetails with some of your ideas. Nutshell: The main thust is to make insurance companies be insurance companies again....not HMO....leverage risk across time. Single payor for the HMO functions and routine medical. Insurance for major medical using standardized, gov developed/approved methodology and beholden to gov negotiated drug pricing. Freed of the HMO functions and associated overhead, premiums would be required to plummet from current "cover everything" policies.

boutons_deux

01-12-2015, 03:54 PM

Incoming Texas Gov Has Had It Up To Here With You Yokels Governing Yourselves

http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/abbott-freedom.jpg

“Texas is being Californianized and you may not even be noticing it,” Abbott said, addressing a downtown Austin conference hosted by the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential think tank. “It’s being done at the city level with bag bans, fracking bans, tree-cutting bans. We’re forming a patchwork quilt of bans and rules and regulations that is eroding the Texas model.”

“Now think about it,” Abbott said. “Few things are more important in Texas than private property rights, yet some cities are telling citizens that you don’t own some of the things of your own property that you have bought and purchased and owned for along time — things like trees.”

“This is a form of collectivism,” said Abbott, who will be inaugurated as governor on Jan. 20. “Some cities claim that trees that are on private property belong to the city, not the private property owner.”

"It’s time for less government and more freedom. That means restricting California-style regulations that cities are imposing on people."

http://wonkette.com/572013/incoming-texas-gov-has-had-it-up-to-here-with-you-yokels-governing-yourselves

Hey all y'all ignorant texas rednecks, bubbas, Bible humpers, y'all got exactly the corporate tool you deserve.

boutons_deux

05-25-2015, 10:23 AM

Texas governor signs bill to speed up permits for industrial projects by limiting public scrutiny

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/texas-governor-signs-bill-to-speed-up-permits-for-industrial-projects-by-limiting-public-scrutiny/

DMX7

05-25-2015, 10:41 AM

Tesla certainly thinks Texas is "free" and open to business, lol.

boutons_deux

06-17-2015, 02:32 PM

Did Abbott Approve $800M For Texas To Start Its Own Border Patrol?

When former Gov. Rick Perry ordered a big reinforcement of security at the Mexico border in 2011, Texas bought six new gunboats that can fire 900 rounds a minute and clock highway speeds. But the boats, which cost $580,000 each, spent more time docked than patrolling the Rio Grande.

That was a small price tag compared with what Texas is about to spend. The new Republican governor, Greg Abbott, this month approved $800 million for border security over the next two years — more than double any similar period during Perry's 14 years in office.

On Texas' shopping list is

a second $7.5 million high-altitude plane to scan the border,

a new border crime data center,

a 5,000-acre training facility for border law-enforcement agencies and grants for year-round helicopter flights. The state also wants to hire

two dozen Texas Rangers to investigate public corruption along the border and

250 new state troopers as a down payment on a permanent force along the border.

Other states along the nearly 2,000-mile Southwest border — New Mexico, Arizona and California — do not come remotely close to the resources Texas has committed. And Texas is doing so long after last year's surge in immigrants crossing the border illegally has subsided.

So why is Texas setting up what appears to be a parallel border patrol alongside the federal force?

"Google 'cartel crime in Mexico' and just put a time period of the last week, and you'll see some dramatic instances of what the cartels are doing in Mexico right now," Abbott told reporters this month following the legislative session. "The first obligation of government is to keep people safe and that means ensuring that this ongoing cartel activity, which is not abating whatsoever, gains no root at all in the state of Texas."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/greg-abbott-texas-border-patrol?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Meanwhile, TX is at the bottom of states on spending per student.

boutons_deux

06-22-2015, 04:02 PM

Texas Approves Another Law Attacking Women’s Health — This Time, Targeting Cancer Screenings

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/06/22/3672505/texas-cancer-screenings/

You asshole rightwingnuts and your Repug politicians really are sociopathic, hateful motherfuckers.

boutons_deux

07-27-2015, 02:48 PM

Meet Scientology’s Favorite GOP Governor: Why Greg Abbott Is More Dangerous Than George W. Bush & Rick Perry

Following the late great Democratic Gov. Ann Richards, Texas has developed a notorious reputation for electing governors who have no real business presiding over anything more important than a pie-eating contest. George W. Bush and Rick Perry were, at the end of the day, the same guy: nauseously conservative and each one battling it out to join Sarah Palin as several of the dumbest former governors ever to have occupied a state capital.

Then along came Greg Abbott.

Abbott, the current governor of Texas, is not necessarily a Perry- or Bush-style idiot in the traditional sense; and, frankly, his conservatism isn’t actually his most disturbing character trait, though his conservatism is awful, to be sure. (For example, last month, Abbott signed an anti-choice bill (http://www.reproductiverights.org/press-room/texas-governor-abbott-signs-bill-blocking-young-womens-access-to-safe-legal-abortion) into law making it impossible to get an abortion without proof of age and identity.)

The most disturbing thing about Abbott is that he’s missing a part inside his lizard brain that weeds out crazy conspiracy theories for the fiction they are. This glitch also has led him to pal around with some nefariously fringe characters along the way.

In the most recent example of both, Abbott last week vetoed (http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20150723-editorial-abbott-sided-with-conspiracy-theorists-to-kill-mental-health-bill.ece) a mental health bill passed by his fellow conservatives in the state legislature, and he did so apparently at the request of the nation’s most infamous cult.

Senate Bill 359 would have allowed hospitals to detain for evaluation potentially dangerous patients for several hours. In this relatively short window, doctors would’ve had the latitude to bring in law enforcement officials to decide whether the patient in question were potentially dangerous, either to himself or others. The Dallas Morning News called it (http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20150723-editorial-abbott-sided-with-conspiracy-theorists-to-kill-mental-health-bill.ece) a “common-sense measure,” one supported by two of the most prominent Texas medical associations, including the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians.

But Abbott insisted the law was unconstitutional, since it gave doctors similar authority as law enforcement in these cases — even if four hours in a hospital to make sure a mentally disturbed patient isn’t going to do something drastic is a far cry from an extraordinary rendition to Guantanamo.

The truth, according to the Texas Tribune (http://www.texastribune.org/2015/07/14/scientology-group-urged-veto-mental-health-bill/), is that Abbott likely vetoed the bill after being lobbied by a group called the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

In addition to its opposition to fluoridation of drinking water,

the CCHR also believes that Big Pharma controls everything and everyone. (Red flags, anyone?) Back in 2005, the CCHR opened a museum called “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death,” which links modern psychiatry to Hilter and other villains.

The group also alleged that the 9/11 attacks were spearheaded not by Osama Bin Laden, but by his psychiatrist.

It all smacks of the Alex Jones worldview, in which chemtrails, weather weapons and shapeshifting lizard people from outer space are plotting to get us.

Oh, and one more thing. The CCHR is a tax exempt organization sponsored by the Church of Scientology. (In other words, Greg Abbott killed SB359 at the request of intergalactic warlord Xenu.)

http://www.alternet.org/belief/meet-scientologys-favorite-gop-governor-why-greg-abbott-more-dangerous-george-w-bush-rick?akid=13334.187590.moA_1J&rd=1&src=newsletter1039987&t=7

goddam, you TX rightwingnuts are fuckin stupid cowpaddies.

... and then there's Krazy Kruz, Dave Barton, Joe Barton, Gohmert, Alex Jones, etc,etc.

boutons_deux

02-21-2016, 12:09 PM

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN COULD FACE LAWSUITS OVER CAMPUS CARRY

License holders will be allowed to carry concealed guns on college campuses in Texas beginning in August, and after months of debate, the University of Texas at Austin has announced where those people will and won’t be able to carry them. However, people on both sides of the issue say they plan to challenge the policies and might even pursue legal action.

The policy announcement comes eight months after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 11, commonly known as the campus carry bill, into law. The law makes it legal for people with concealed carry licenses to carry concealed guns on college campuses. Private colleges can opt out, and public universities can designate gun-free zones on campus.

The UT Austin policy is the first to be announced of any of the Texas public universities, says Julie Gavran, southwest coordinator for the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus.

“I do not believe handguns belong on a university campus, so this decision has been the greatest challenge of my presidency to date,” University President Gregory Fenves wrote in an open letter (http://president.utexas.edu/messages/campus-carry-policies) published Wednesday. “I empathize with the many faculty members, staffers, students and parents of students who signed petitions, sent emails and letters and organized to ban guns from campus and especially classrooms. As a professor, I understand the deep concerns raised by so many. However, as president, I have an obligation to uphold the law.”

In a second open letter, to University of Texas Chancellor William McRaven, Fenves wrote (https://utexas.app.box.com/mcraven-cc-transmittal-letter), “The presence of handguns at an institution of higher learning is contrary to our mission of education and research, which is based on inquiry, free speech and debate.” However, he added, “As president…I am responsible for adhering to the requirements of SB 11.”

Under the UT Austin policy (https://utexas.app.box.com/campus-carry-report), license holders can carry concealed guns on campus except for places where activities for students in pre-K through grade 12 are happening; at polling places when voting is happening; at places serving as courtrooms or court offices; at businesses where the majority of income comes from liquor sales; campus sporting events unless the license holder is participating and using the gun in the event; patient-care areas; places where formal hearings are being conducted; laboratories with dangerous chemicals or places with “equipment that is incompatible with metallic objects”; animal-use and animal-research facilities.

Notably, people cannot carry guns in residence halls except for in common areas and the University Apartments (http://www.utexas.edu/student/housing/index.php?site=0&scode=2&id=). (Family members and staff members can carry anywhere in residence halls.) People with offices can prohibit guns in the offices if they wish, but must agree to meet carriers at another location if necessary.

There are also restrictions on people carrying guns while working with minors. And while carrying a semi-automatic handgun, carriers cannot have a round of ammunition in the chamber.

The policies do not generally prohibit guns in classrooms, a point for which faculty members had voiced concern. A working group had recommended (http://www.newsweek.com/campus-carry-texas-implementation-416644) against such a sweeping prohibition.

“Under the law, I cannot adopt a policy that has the general effect of excluding licensed concealed handguns from campus. I agree with the working group that a classroom exclusion would have this effect,” Fenves wrote in the letter.

“It’s a case where he wasn’t willing to take the political risk of going farther and acting on his convictions and for that we’re disappointed,” says Max Snodderly, a member of the group Gun Free UT and a neuroscience professor at UT Austin.

“We intend to continue to push for not having guns in classrooms and not having guns in the dormitories,” Snodderly says, adding that the push is “going to entail legal action.”

http://www.newsweek.com/university-texas-austin-fenves-campus-carry-428586

boutons_deux

02-21-2016, 12:19 PM

During the first mass school shooting, armed students fired back

University of Texas President Gregory Fenves sounded reluctant this week as he announced that the system would comply with a new state law permitting students to bring guns into classrooms (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-guns-idUSKCN0VR01N)

The law is slated to take effect on August 1, the 50th anniversary of the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history, and by many accounts the first in the nation. In 1966, an ex-Marine and engineering student named Charles Whitman ascended to the observation deck of the Austin campus’ 30-floor clock tower. Whitman began shooting at random, hitting 43 people and killing 13 of them.

According to gun rights groups, the new law would prevent such tragedies. But there’s some irony in their choice of the UT shooting as a commemorative occasion. It so happens that many students on the UT campus were armed in 1966, and many of them fired at Whitman, who was ultimately killed by a police officer. Whether civilian gunfire was helpful that day remains a matter of debate.

An oral history (http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/96-minutes/) of the shooting compiled by Texas journalist Pamela Colloff features several eyewitness accounts of civilians taking up arms.

The South African novelist J. M. Coetzee, then a PhD candidate at UT, was on campus that day. “I hadn’t fully comprehended,” he told Colloff, “that lots of people around me in Austin not only owned guns but had them close at hand and regarded themselves as free to use them.”'

“It seemed like every other guy had a rifle,” said Ann Major. “There was a sort of cowboy atmosphere, this ‘Let’s get him’ spirit.”

“I don’t know where these vigilantes came from,” said Brenda Bell, “but they took over Parlin Hall and were crashing around, firing guns. There was massive testosterone.”

Another eyewitness described “two guys in white shirts and slacks running across the lawn of the Pi Phi house, hustling up to its porch with rifles at the ready.” Yet another remembered that “students with deer rifles were leaning up against telephone poles, using the pole, which is rather narrow, as their shield. And they were firing like crazy back at the tower.”

Luckily, none of these civilian bullets hit innocent bystanders. But none of them hit Whitman, either.

Texas gun rights advocates insist that the new law will make campuses safer by increasing the likelihood that a school shooter would be shot by a civilian. By beginning to enforce the law on the 50th anniversary of the UT shooting, Texas legislators are implying that the law would somehow prevent another such shooting. But Texas students were freely armed in 1966, and Charles Whitman still managed to kill 14 people.

Timeline spoke to Gary Lavergne, author of the only nonfiction book (http://www.amazon.com/Sniper-Tower-Charles-Whitman-Murders-ebook/dp/B009K7W5QQ/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8) about the shooting, who said there was no way of knowing whether the threat armed civilians posed to Whitman outweighed the threat they posed to each other.

“No one really knows the extent to which the return fire from civilians was helpful,” said Lavergne. He added, “But even if you accept that the armed civilians were primarily helpful that day, it doesn’t follow in my opinion that they would be helpful in 2016.”

Lavergne explained that students felt the need to defend themselves because they knew not to expect a robust police response. “The Austin police department didn’t have a SWAT team,” Lavergne said. “They didn’t have appropriate weapons or communication gear. They didn’t even have appropriate shoes. One of the officers who stormed the deck told me that he was wearing penny loafers, and was slipping and sliding on the blood.”

https://timeline.com/during-the-nation-s-first-mass-school-shooting-armed-students-fired-back-43bc18a3ddc3#.i8vb4940n

How fitting that the Bible-crazy, gun-crazy, Wild West, shit kickin Texas, at it showcase state campus, was the first school massacre by and adored Marine.

rmt

02-21-2016, 04:00 PM

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 04:30 PM

Well, boutons, as a parent of a UT student, I feel better knowing that others are carrying should some madman start shooting. I read that it takes on average 11 minutes for the police to respond to one of these episodes. That's 11 minutes others could be shooting back.

Are you serious? You don't see the problem with allowing people to carry weapons in areas of high population density? Did you even read that entire article?

It so happens that many students on the UT campus were armed in 1966, and many of them fired at Whitman, who was ultimately killed by a police officer

“No one really knows the extent to which the return fire from civilians was helpful,” said Lavergne. He added, “But even if you accept that the armed civilians were primarily helpful that day, it doesn’t follow in my opinion that they would be helpful in 2016.”

Lavergne explained that students felt the need to defend themselves because they knew not to expect a robust police response. “The Austin police department didn’t have a SWAT team,” Lavergne said. “They didn’t have appropriate weapons or communication gear. They didn’t even have appropriate shoes. One of the officers who stormed the deck told me that he was wearing penny loafers, and was slipping and sliding on the blood.”

Yet you want your CHILDREN around people who have no requirement for training with deadly weapons. Brainwashed.

rmt

02-21-2016, 05:05 PM

Blake

02-21-2016, 05:13 PM

[SIZE=3]...50th anniversary of the deadliest school shooting in the state’s history, and by many accounts the first in the nation.

Hmm

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 05:13 PM

Those others carrying would include her. Oh so you'd get her combat training or some kind of training that involves the pressure of imminent death?

And yes, I'd rather have her trained with a gun than unarmed.Gee, why is that? Is it because there are more mass shootings in this country than we have days in the year?

We can't control what others do, but she would have a means to defend herself as opposed to being a sitting duck.How do you not understand that this is the exact point of this discussion? Even if your daughter is a SEAL team 6 member, the other people who are most certainly not trained are more likely to do harm than good. Does that mean you'd be in favor of stricter gun control laws that require advanced training to be able to carry weapons?

Blake

02-21-2016, 05:15 PM

Those others carrying would include her. And yes, I'd rather have her trained with a gun than unarmed. We can't control what others do, but she would have a means to defend herself as opposed to being a sitting duck.

What if the others with guns fire and accidentally hit your daughter?

What if a dude steals her purse with the gun in it?

rmt

02-21-2016, 05:34 PM

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 05:39 PM

What you (as I'm assuming) as males don't realize is that a female is almost always at a disadvantage physically when it comes to males. For example, when Cuban made his statement about crossing the street if he sees a black man with a hoodie or a tattooed white, I thought, males just don't understand that a female will cross the street and walk on the other side if ANY male walks down her side of the street. She is at a physical disadvantage to any man and being armed gives her a fighting chance as opposed to no chance at all.

So all women should carry guns. How about your thoughts on my question about stricter gun control? Instead of guns, how about women carry NON-LETHAL weapons? Or are you also in favor of on-the-spot capital punishment (ask questions later)?

Have you seen the vast research that shows people are more likely to be killed or injured by their own gun than they are to stop a crime with said gun?

rmt

02-21-2016, 05:49 PM

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 05:56 PM

Other women can choose to do what they want regarding guns, but for me and my daughter, we will do whatever we can to not be a victim and yes, that includes now carrying a pepper spray that has a loud alarm and bright light when it's used.

Ok again it seems like you're missing the point (and avoiding my question). You and your daughter can be current military, gun savants that can curve bullets like in that terrible Angelina Jolie movie. The point you miss is that the huge majority of US citizens ARE NOT trained to use the guns they own, especially in high stress situations. The studies are out there and they show having a gun in your house is more dangerous for YOU than not having a gun would be.

So are you or are you not in favor of stricter gun laws that require specialized training? I'll even go you one more and ask whether you think people should be cleared psychiatrically prior to purchasing a gun.

rmt

02-21-2016, 06:05 PM

Ok again it seems like you're missing the point (and avoiding my question). You and your daughter can be current military, gun savants that can curve bullets like in that terrible Angelina Jolie movie. The point you miss is that the huge majority of US citizens ARE NOT trained to use the guns they own, especially in high stress situations. The studies are out there and they show having a gun in your house is more dangerous for YOU than not having a gun would be.

So are you or are you not in favor of stricter gun laws that require specialized training? I'll even go you one more and ask whether you think people should be cleared psychiatrically prior to purchasing a gun.

I have a closet full of guns and bullets, and I assure you that it is not more dangerous for me than not having them. I rest assured at night that if someone breaks into my house I can defend myself. My children have grown up surrounded by guns with not one "incident." My husband has them practice with a laptop/target.

I cannot control the bad guys, the crazies, the untrained, etc - I can only control what I do - which will be to arm myself against the previously listed.

baseline bum

02-21-2016, 06:12 PM

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 06:16 PM

I have a closet full of guns and bullets, and I assure you that it is not more dangerous for me than not having them. I rest assured at night that if someone breaks into my house I can defend myself. My children have grown up surrounded by guns with not one "incident." My husband has them practice with a laptop/target.

I cannot control the bad guys, the crazies, the untrained, etc - I can only control what I do - which will be to arm myself against the previously listed.Except you don't know you're safer until someone breaks in. And like I keep saying (and you keep ignoring, head-in-the-sand style), the statistics show having those guns is more dangerous for your family. You are MORE likely to be killed or injured by your own gun.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/10/929.full

Results show that regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and firearm suicide in the home.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/01/good_guy_with_a_gun_myth_guns_increase_the_risk_of _homicide_accidents_suicide.html

“The current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis that guns make a nation safer.” This finding is bolstered by several previous studies that have revealed a significant link between gun ownership and firearm-related deaths. This international comparison is especially harrowing for women and children, who die from gun violence in America at far higher rates than in other countries.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20571454

CONCLUSIONS:
The United States has far higher rates of firearm deaths-firearm homicides, firearm suicides, and unintentional firearm deaths compared with other high-income countries. The US overall suicide rate is not out of line with these countries, but the United States is an outlier in terms of our overall homicide rate.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check

MYTH #5: KEEPING A GUN AT HOME MAKES YOU SAFER.

Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43 percent of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.

MYTH #6: CARRYING A GUN FOR SELF-DEFENSE MAKES YOU SAFER.

Fact-check: In 2014, according to FBI data, nearly eight times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.
• In one survey, nearly 1 percent of Americans reported using guns to defend themselves or their property. However, a closer look at these claims found that more than half involved using guns in an aggressive manner, such as escalating an argument.
• A study in Philadelphia found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun. His odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater.

That motherjones link has further links to justify the claims made.

Would you like more? Even if you disregard these peer-reviewed studies and statistics (who likes facts and numbers amirite?) there is still the undeniable fact that this country doesn't revolve around you and your family. Even if you all are the most prepared people on earth, most others are not and THOSE people make it a more dangerous country to live in when we don't restrict gun ownership. I can always speak a little louder so you can hear me through the sand.

rmt

02-21-2016, 06:35 PM

Shasta, please, don't waste your time posting any more links, studies, etc. Nothing is gonna change my husband's or my mind on this subject. And where do I claim/suggest that this country revolves around me and my family? You do what you want, and I'll do what I want (within the law).

rmt

02-21-2016, 06:38 PM

I wouldn't put them in a closet though, if your house gets broken into while you're gone that's a ton of shit on the street. I think having a safe makes much more sense and then a shotgun nearby that goes back in the safe when you leave. Nothing beats a shotgun for home defense.

Yep, there's a shotgun in the master bedroom. Thanks for the advice on the gun safe. Someone's almost always at home.

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 06:40 PM

Shasta, please, don't waste your time posting any more links, studies, etc. Never

Nothing is gonna change my husband's or my mind on this subject. I don't care. If even one person sees the info posted and actually thinks critically about it, that's all I want.

And where do I claim/suggest that this country revolves around me and my family? You do what you want, and I'll do what I want (within the law).
You still don't get it. You're using your family as the benchmark for why guns are good and should be unregulated (I assume since you continue to avoid answering my questions). My point is that people shouldn't give a shit about the BEST this country has to offer in respect to gun ownership. People should care about the majority of the country that doesn't know how to use, store, or keep track of firearms. That doesn't even bring mental health or criminals using loopholes into the argument. But again, your head seems to be in the sand. Guns are good. Guns are safe. History and statistics be damned.

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 06:43 PM

Shasta, please, don't waste your time posting any more links, studies, etc. Nothing is gonna change my husband's or my mind on this subject.
Critical thinkers should read this and just bask in the ignorance. "Stop telling me about statistics and historical facts! They don't mean anything." Conservative thinking :tu

rmt

02-21-2016, 06:57 PM

Maybe you would rather put your trust in the government or police to keep the bad guys from having guns and protect you. I would rather depend on myself (at least until they get there). Let's just agree to disagree.

Shastafarian

02-21-2016, 07:35 PM

There's nothing to agree or disagree over. I have facts and statistics. You have a theoretical anecdote.

boutons_deux

02-21-2016, 07:52 PM

You have a theoretical anecdote.

... and gun-industry-induced severe, clinical paranoia

the chances of your kid shooting herself or some non-attacker are a million times more probable than shooting an attacker.

boutons_deux

03-29-2016, 07:40 AM

Gov. Abbott proposes constitutional amendments, wants to restore state power

Abbott offered the following constitutional amendments:

Prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within one State.
Require Congress to balance its budget.
Prohibit administrative agencies—and the unelected bureaucrats that staff them—from creating federal law.
Prohibit administrative agencies—and the unelected bureaucrats that staff them—from preempting state law.
Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Require a seven-justice super-majority vote for U.S. Supreme Court decisions that invalidate a democratically enacted law.
Restore the balance of power between the federal and state governments by limiting the former to the powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution.
Give state officials the power to sue in federal court when federal officials overstep their bounds.
Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a federal law or regulation.

In its most basic explanation, proposing amendments can occur in essentially one of two ways:

a proposal by Congress with a two-thirds vote in both chambers; or
a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of all state legislatures.

But that is just the first step, because an amendment must also be ratified to become part of the Constitution:

This can happen either by three-fourths of state legislatures or conventions in three-fourths of states.
The only amendment ratified by state conventions is the 21st. In 1933, this move ended the national prohibition on alcohol.
Unlike other federal legislation, constitutional amendments do not require approval by the President.

http://kxan.com/2016/01/08/gov-abbott-calls-for-constitutional-convention-of-states/

NONE of these Constitutional amendments will be law, so WTF is Abbott doing?

Building his slave state, secessionist cred as profoundly anti-Fed (damn "yankees" up there in DC) to stroke his racist, slave state, Bible-humping base.

Blake

03-29-2016, 07:54 AM

Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

:lol

boutons_deux

04-25-2016, 10:38 AM

Texas Guv Slams Roberts: SCOTUS 'Deserves To Be Swept Up Into' Politics

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday accused the Supreme Court's conservative Chief Justice John Roberts of being the "tip of the spear in playing politics," arguing the high court "deserves to be swept up into the political process."

Abbott was weighing on the current refusal by Senate Republicans to consider President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, according to the Houston Chronicle. (http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Abbott-calls-U-S-Chief-Justice-Roberts-Court-a-7287515.php?cmpid=twitter-desktop)

"Chief Justice John Roberts knowingly, clearly and unabashedly re-wrote Obamacare twice. What we are seeing is nothing more than naked politics being played by the United States Supreme Court," Abbott said during a press event at the Heritage Foundation.

Abbott is not the only Republican to blame Roberts, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush and has a conservative voting record, for making the Supreme Court the political hot potato that it's considered now.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) warned Roberts against (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chuck-grassley-john-roberts) publicly commenting on the current nomination fight. Roberts so far has stayed mum, but days before Justice Antonin Scalia's death, he decried how political the Senate's confirmation process had become. Grassley later said Roberts was "part of the problem."

In his remarks Thursday, Abbott defended the GOP blockade in the Senate and said the court had "shed its clothing as being guardians of the law."

"The United States Supreme Court is more of a political body than it has ever been in the United States of America," Abbott said. "And because, on its own, by its own fault, as an institution, it has chosen to be a political body, it deserves to be swept up into the political process."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/greg-abbott-slams-john-roberts?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

"Roberts ... re-wrote Obamacare twice" ? :lol

Obama didn't even write ACA the first time. Baucus and health insurance exec/lobbyist wrote ACA.

Abbott and similar Repug shit bags? amazing! Repugs appointed Roberts as an ACTIVIST VRWC/1% tool and shill.

And, with the exception of ACA, Roberts and his accomplices have fucked over America just as VRWC/1% hired them to do.

FromWayDowntown

04-25-2016, 11:04 AM

Abbott is the worst kind of ideologue.

boutons_deux

06-16-2016, 08:24 PM

Federal Judge Dismisses Texas Case Seeking To Stop Syrian Refugee Resettlement

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out the Texas lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s plans to resettle Syrian refugees in the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed (https://www.buzzfeed.com/kyleblaine/texas-sues-federal-government-nonprofit-over-syrian-refugee?utm_term=.knOJyBLjRA#.hhLwEn6MLm) the lawsuit in December on behalf of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

It had met with an icy reception from U.S. District Court Judge David Godbey, who previously had denied (https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/federal-judge-denies-texas-request-for-immediate-halt-to-pla?utm_term=.joMMoYr9Rw#.vdxqMZb7yR) Texas’ request for an immediate halt to the refugee resettlement plans and its later request (https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/federal-judge-rejects-texas-attempt-to-stop-syrian-refugee-r?utm_term=.uow15Gm0EV#.odrerzVQXE) for a preliminary injunction stopping resettlement.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/federal-judge-dismisses-texas-case-seeking-to-stop-syrian-re?utm_term=.wk7vrE5GWk#.xg97ZP8jke

boutons_deux

12-01-2016, 06:11 PM

The Feds Are Coming to Investigate Texas' Troublesome Special Education Policies

the agency's policies over the past decade arbitrarily kept thousands of disabled students out of special classes and programming.

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services plan on holding “listening sessions” with the public in five regions across Texas, starting on December 5, to get a better grasp on the issue.

The feds are seeking feedback from parents, teachers, students, and any other stakeholders on “the timely identification, evaluation and the appropriate provision” of special education services in Texas public schools.

This comes on the heels of the Houston Chronicle's September investigation into TEA’s special education system. The daily reported that the state had placed a 8.5 percent cap on all special education enrollment — far below a national average of 13 percent. This didn't mean the state has a surprisingly small number of children with disabilities.

It meant some 250,000 of these students have been denied critical in-school services like therapy, counseling and one-on-one tutoring.

http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2016/12/01/the-feds-are-coming-to-investigate-texas-troublesome-special-education-policies

TX Repugs and their voters are sociopathic assholes.

boutons_deux

12-04-2016, 11:51 AM

Koch brothers protégé and Founding Father wannabe Gov. Greg Abbott wants to amend your Constitution 9 ways

Texas' governor, backed by the Kochs, wants the Constitution amended to balance the budget, elevate corporate power

he has penned not one but nine new amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Forget the Bill of Rights, Abbott is proposing a bill of sale, effectively transferring the title of our national government from the people to the plutocrats. The upshot of his “tweaks” would be outlawing government actions that restrain corporate abuse of workers and consumers, while also preventing future Congresses from meeting crucial public needs such as health care, voter rights and restoration of our national infrastructure.

One could call Abbott and his Founding Father pretensions ludicrous — which both are — but he’s not the force behind this diabolical, ideological tampering with our Constitution and our people’s ideals of fairness and justice. The American Legislative Exchange Council, at the direction of the Kochs and their corporate cohorts, wrote this bill of sale.

An ALEC and Koch affiliate called the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force (with the cumbersome acronym of BBATF) came out of the Tea Party maelstrom in 2010 and is now aggressively pushing governors and state legislatures to endorse such an Article V convention. At the convention, it would attempt to rewrite our nation’s fundamental governing document by adding a balanced budget amendment, along with Abbott’s other eight. Together these changes would enthrone the “moneyed corporations” that Jefferson and other founders abhorred as destroyers of America’s democratic possibilities.

Applying Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” thousands of people are being trained to become organizers and political activists. This “grassroots” outfit has been set up by the gabillionaire Koch boys to train cadres of right-wing corporatists to spread their ideological laissez-faire dust across the land. The academy is run through Americans for Prosperity, Charlie and Davie Koch’s political wing, which put up $3 million to get it going.

About 10,000 people have gone through some of the training sessions in three dozen states. The brothers’ grandiose scheme is to take over the Republican Party and use it as their tool to rebuild America itself into a Kochlandia, ruled by the superrich. The academy’s curriculum is loaded with such corporate nonsense as a course titled “The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels.” Attendees are indoctrinated with two overarching lessons: 1. Freewheeling corporate power unrestrained by labor, environmental or other public protections is good. 2. Social Security, unemployment benefits and other social programs are bad.

Koch College for right-wing social engineers is peddling a status quo agenda of corporate elitism and trickle-down ideology, which the vast majority of Americans have openly rebelled against. It’s like trying to sell chicken salad made out of chicken manure.

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/04/koch-brothers-protege-and-founding-father-wannabe-gov-greg-abbott-wants-to-amend-your-constitution-9-ways/

The VRWC strategy signals the End Of The (Mythical) American Experiment. And there's no stopping the VRWC.

boutons_deux

12-19-2016, 02:41 PM

It's how Texas Christians emulate Christ's love for meek, the poor, the afflicted.

Texas Begins $350M in Medicaid Cuts; Disabled Children Affected

Some $350 million in cuts to a Texas Medicaid program providing therapy for disabled children have taken effect.

They reduce revenue for some Texas therapy providers. Opponents say they'll force providers to close, and could cost roughly 60,000 children access to speech and occupational therapists.

"We will monitor the reduction of rates to ensure access to care is not impacted." :lol

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Texas-Begins-350M-in-Medicaid-Cuts-Children-Affected-407211905.html

boutons_deux

02-18-2017, 01:50 PM

(http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/17/1634863/-Texas-senator-literally-breaks-table-to-silence-woman-testifying-against-extreme-anti-abortion-bills)Christian Taliban news from Texastan
(http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/17/1634863/-Texas-senator-literally-breaks-table-to-silence-woman-testifying-against-extreme-anti-abortion-bills)
Texas senator literally breaks table to silence woman testifying against extreme anti-abortion bills (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/2/17/1634863/-Texas-senator-literally-breaks-table-to-silence-woman-testifying-against-extreme-anti-abortion-bills)

After subjecting the public to their unscientific, anti-choice ramblings (http://m.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/02/15/texas-republicans-struggle-to-explain-their-own-anti-abortion-bills) in support of three extreme anti-choice bills, state Senator Charles Schwertner (R) — the chair of the Texas Senate’s Committee on Health and Human Services — couldn’t handle hearing the truth.

After the committee’s discussion, the floor was opened to the public for three hours of testimony. It took literally 10 minutes before state Sen. Schwertner lost his shit and broke a table to silence a member of the public practicing their right of free speech.

From the San Antonio Current (http://m.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/02/16/texas-senator-shatters-table-trying-to-silence-woman-testifying-against-anti-abortion-bill):

"I'm here on behalf of all absent women, families and doctors across the state whose lives will be negatively impacted by this bill," began the testimony of Maggie Hennessy, a UT student and intern with NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. She was the fourth person to speak (of more than 50).

Hennessy verbally shredded Sen. Huffines bill against second-trimester abortions. Her voice shook with anger as she scolded lawmakers for openly putting women in danger. "Ms. Hennessy —" Schwertner interrupted a minute into her testimony. "Your time is done.”

But Hennessy went on, saying, "I urge you to all stop playing with reproductive health care like it's your own political puppet."

That's when Schwertner dropped the gavel — so hard that he shattered the glass table before him.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C4vSV9bVYAEoxIM.jpg

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/2/17/1634863/-Texas-senator-literally-breaks-table-to-silence-woman-testifying-against-extreme-anti-abortion-bills?detail=email&link_id=3&can_id=4217e8eb109c68bd0c2e4143dd2d8c15&source=email-dont-touch-me-panelist-blows-up-on-trump-supporters-microaggression-on-cnn-2&email_referrer=dont-touch-me-panelist-blows-up-on-trump-supporters-microaggression-on-cnn-2&email_subject=dont-touch-me-panelist-blows-up-on-trump-supporters-microaggression-on-cnn

boutons_deux

02-21-2017, 08:15 AM

In poll, most Texans say "bathroom bill" isn't an important issue

More than 50 percent of Texans say regulating bathroom use is not an important issue for the Texas Legislature.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/21/brief-texans-bathroom-bill-issue/

but the Christina Taliban tail wags the Repug dog, at state and national.

Blake

02-21-2017, 08:57 AM

boutons_deux

02-21-2017, 09:07 AM

It's gonna cost San Antonio getting the Final Four.

... cost Houston any more Super Bowls (3 so far). Alamo dome has also hosted some NCAA bball regionals.

leemajors

02-21-2017, 09:12 AM

It's gonna cost San Antonio getting the Final Four.

Jerruh is gonna lose his shit if he loses out on a Super Bowl

boutons_deux

02-21-2017, 09:27 AM

Jerruh is gonna lose his shit if he loses out on a Super Bowl

TX Christian Taliban HATE overrules everything. That's what Christ would want. He talks to these people.

Splits

02-26-2017, 12:18 PM

835896186703872001

lol

CosmicCowboy

02-26-2017, 02:23 PM

Hmmm...the UIL shouldn't allow her to wrestle as a girl either because of the testosterone doping.

CosmicCowboy

02-26-2017, 02:35 PM

Blake

02-27-2017, 12:29 PM

FWIW Texas law specifically allows a person to change the gender on their birth certificate if he/she really wanted to wrestle as a boy.

Link?

CosmicCowboy

02-27-2017, 04:12 PM

Link?

You want to change your gender? :lmao

Blake

02-27-2017, 04:13 PM

You want to change your gender? :lmao

No, I think you're talking out of your asshole again per par the usuals etc

SnakeBoy

02-27-2017, 04:18 PM

You want to change your gender? :lmao

:lol

SpursforSix

02-27-2017, 04:26 PM

FWIW Texas law specifically allows a person to change the gender on their birth certificate if he/she really wanted to wrestle as a boy. More likely this doped he/she enjoyed going undefeated against the girls.

Honestly, I don't think he enjoyed it. But I also think that when he requested to wrestle boys, he knew that they weren't going to let that happen until it went to a review board.

I think he did it for the publicity. Because I can't imagine him taking any personal satisfaction in winning after having such an unfair advantage. And the reality is that he already had all of the attention before going to state. He and his family would have had a lot more support if he had been the one to drop out.

His selfishness kept some girl from being able to compete at state. And lowered all the other contender's place by one spot. Keeping one out of the medal round. And potentially keeping the best female wrestler out of the championship match.

Blake

02-27-2017, 04:55 PM

:lol

It's funnier if you look at it as CC showing expert knowledge on it

Blake

02-27-2017, 04:56 PM

Honestly, I don't think he enjoyed it. But I also think that when he requested to wrestle boys, he knew that they weren't going to let that happen until it went to a review board.

I think he did it for the publicity. Because I can't imagine him taking any personal satisfaction in winning after having such an unfair advantage. And the reality is that he already had all of the attention before going to state. He and his family would have had a lot more support if he had been the one to drop out.

His selfishness kept some girl from being able to compete at state. And lowered all the other contender's place by one spot. Keeping one out of the medal round. And potentially keeping the best female wrestler out of the championship match.

Yeah people are selfish. Sky blue too

SpursforSix

02-27-2017, 05:27 PM

Yeah people are selfish. Sky blue too

I have no idea what that means.

CosmicCowboy

02-27-2017, 05:30 PM

It's funnier if you look at it as CC showing expert knowledge on it

If you were even semi-literate you would have availed yourself of one of the articles that discussed the issue. He/she had to present a letter from his doctor to the uil. He/she could have given the same to a judge and had her sex changed to male.

Blake

02-27-2017, 05:35 PM

I have no idea what that means.

Being selfish isn't inherently wrong.

Rosa Parks was selfish too

Blake

02-27-2017, 05:37 PM

If you were even semi-literate you would have availed yourself of one of the articles that discussed the issue. He/she had to present a letter from his doctor to the uil. He/she could have given the same to a judge and had her sex changed to male.

I Googled it. It's not a given that the judge okays the gender change.

It's why I'm asking for your link. If you have none I'll conclude you're ass talking. Nothing new for you.

SpursforSix

02-27-2017, 05:43 PM

Being selfish isn't inherently wrong.

Rosa Parks was selfish too

With her decision , Rosa Parks didn't infringe on anyone else. At least not specifically as to the issue she was protesting.
Begg's decision directly caused harm to several girls who worked hard and did the right thing to progress.

I'm sure you're not stupid enough to think you made an apples to apples comparison. Or maybe you were trolling. IDK.

CosmicCowboy

02-27-2017, 05:55 PM

I Googled it. It's not a given that the judge okays the gender change.

It's why I'm asking for your link. If you have none I'll conclude you're ass talking. Nothing new for you.

Hopefully you get a sympathetic judge. Being the guy in the relationship clearly didn't work out for you, Cuck.

Blake

02-27-2017, 06:05 PM

With her decision , Rosa Parks didn't infringe on anyone else. At least not specifically as to the issue she was protesting.
Begg's decision directly caused harm to several girls who worked hard and did the right thing to progress.

I'm sure you're not stupid enough to think you made an apples to apples comparison. Or maybe you were trolling. IDK.

Parks infringed on the white guy that wanted to sit where she was sitting.

I'm not comparing trans with blacks. I'm comparing the two selfish acts since the selfish part is making you salty.

White guy on that bus cried about her being selfish. As long as the right thing gets done, who cares about who is being selfish?

Blake

02-27-2017, 06:07 PM

Hopefully you get a sympathetic judge. Being the guy in the relationship clearly didn't work out for you, Cuck.

That's a big difference from "Texas law specifically allows the change", Dumbfuck.

CosmicCowboy

02-27-2017, 06:56 PM

That's a big difference from "Texas law specifically allows the change", Dumbfuck.

Texas law specifically addresses how to change the gender on your birth certificate, cuck. You give a judge a letter from your doctor, Cuck.

Blake

02-27-2017, 08:17 PM

Texas law specifically addresses how to change the gender on your birth certificate, cuck. You give a judge a letter from your doctor, Cuck.

Lol keep backpedaling, DumbFuck.

CosmicCowboy

02-27-2017, 10:03 PM

Lol keep backpedaling, DumbFuck.

Changing your gender won't keep you from getting cucked again cuck.

Blake

02-28-2017, 01:27 AM

Changing your gender won't keep you from getting cucked again cuck.

Saying cuck over and over doesn't cover up your stupidity, DumbFuck. It actually magnifies it tbh.

CosmicCowboy

02-28-2017, 11:01 AM

Saying cuck over and over doesn't cover up your stupidity, DumbFuck. It actually magnifies it tbh.

:lol no, stupidity was the thread you started whining about your ex cucking you. :lmao

Fabbs

02-28-2017, 11:32 AM

Blake, CC?
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpRSOjCheZwqqdZ7WkmfScRL0Kg5_lp FMoHlfOd4je32Ik9lci

Blake

02-28-2017, 11:45 AM

:lol no, stupidity was the thread you started whining about your ex cucking you. :lmao

Eh, it was a meltdown. Probably stupid.

But this isn't about me from 2010. You got caught talking out of your ass cheeks here and now. Just own it and no one will think anything more of it.

But you can't because you're a fucking idiot.

CosmicCowboy

03-01-2017, 11:30 AM

Blake

03-01-2017, 11:32 AM

Blake, CC?
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpRSOjCheZwqqdZ7WkmfScRL0Kg5_lp FMoHlfOd4je32Ik9lci

Lol low rent fabbs

Blake

03-01-2017, 11:33 AM

:lol no I didn't. Unlike some states Texas has a process to change your gender on your birth certificate. It basically requires an MD certifying you are changing or have changed your gender. No big deal. Get your note, cuck. :lol

Sure you did. And now you're switching gears. And acting an expert on this subject. Lol.

You're wrong. No big deal, dumbfuck.

Fabbs

03-01-2017, 11:59 AM

http://i.imgur.com/ZBjNU.gif
I can spend more on a more expensive motel for my hookup with Cosmic Cowboy.

Blake

03-01-2017, 12:04 PM

I'm hoping for a 3 way that'll never happen

boutons_deux

05-11-2017, 02:31 PM

Texas Leads the Country in Scientifically-Baseless Abortion Laws

And, according to new research, Texas has some of the most unscientific abortion laws in the country.

Texas is tied with Kansas for having the largest number of scientifically unfounded restrictions on abortion in the U.S., according to a study released Tuesday (https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2017/05/flouting-facts-state-abortion-restrictions-flying-face-science) by the Guttmacher Institute, a organization that crunches the numbers on U.S. abortion laws.

The repeal of HB2 was the only reason keeping Texas from coming out in first place.

http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/05/11/texas-leads-the-country-in-scientifically-baseless-abortion-laws

boutons_deux

05-11-2017, 03:59 PM

Texas House moves to require new abortion reporting data

Health facilities that perform abortions may soon have to release data on complications that arise during and after the procedure — another move by GOP lawmakers to crack down on abortions in Texas.

to require hospitals, birthing centers, community health centers and freestanding emergency rooms that perform abortions — not just abortion clinics — to submit quarterly complication reports to the Department of State Health Services. It's a move supporters hope will give them a fuller scope of problems associated with the procedure.

Against their opponents' objections, GOP lawmakers also tacked on an amendment creating an online database for complications at abortion clinics, requiring doctors to report to the state within 72 hours of a problem and

requiring information as personal as the date of the woman's last menstrual cycle and her marital status.

"It's important to make sure complications that arise in abortions are disclosed and make sure we have the right data,"

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/11/abortion-data-reporting/

TX Christian Taliban Repugs never met a vagina they wouldn't REGULATE.

boutons_deux

05-16-2017, 06:58 AM

Texas Seeks Medicaid Money It Gave Up Over Planned Parenthood Ban

Four years after Texas gave up millions of dollars in federal Medicaid funds so it could ban Planned Parenthood from participating in a family planning program for low-income women, the state is asking the Trump administration for the money back.

If the administration agrees to restore the funding for Texas, it could effectively give states the greenlight to ban Planned Parenthood from Medicaid family planning programs with no financial consequences.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/health/texas-medicaid-planned-parenthood.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

boutons_deux

05-26-2017, 02:02 PM

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott jokes about shooting reporters after celebrating gun bill

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/grg.jpg

Following the bill signing, Abbott tested out a few guns at an upstairs shooting range.

“I’m gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters,” Abbott joked while holding his bullet-ridden target sheet.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/texas-gov-greg-abbott-jokes-about-shooting-reporters-after-celebrating-gun-bill/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Just run them over with your car, fucktard.

Does Abbott get disability pay from taxpayers?

boutons_deux

06-13-2017, 07:35 AM

More TX Repug autocracy and pre-emption

Abbott grappled with local tree regulations targeted in special session

Before he became governor, Greg Abbott was asked to replant trees on his Austin property — a regulation he has set out to axe during the upcoming special session of the Texas Legislature

“I wanted to cut down a common pecan tree in my yard, and the City of Austin told me, no, I could not cut it down and I had to pay money to the City of Austin to add more trees to my yard because I wanted to cut down one very common tree that was in a bad location,” Abbott said on WBAP Morning News last week.

“It’s socialistic, is what it is,” he said.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/12/austin-homeowner-gov-abbott-grappled-tree-regulations/ (https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/12/austin-homeowner-gov-abbott-grappled-tree-regulations/)

I think developers would benefit since Abbott would allow them to denude a lot of natural trees to build, overriding municipal and county regs that try to preserve tress.

So a blue city or county regs are socialistic, but red TX Repug regs aren't, right? :lol

poop

06-13-2017, 09:32 AM

Greg abbott is the best governor in america by a huge margin

AaronY

06-13-2017, 10:04 AM

Greg abbott is the best governor in america by a huge margin
Is this a troll account?

Anyone know?

boutons_deux

06-20-2017, 01:27 PM

Texas law bars parents from suing schools — even when their children fall into a den of rattlesnakes

According to personal injury lawyer John Kemmrer Ivey, “the State of Texas and the school district doesn’t care” about children harmed due to negligence at school.

Texas has the strongest laws in the country protecting schools against litigation. The only way a school can be sued is if an injury occurs in a motor vehicle.

Houston attorney Al Durrell’s five-year-old son was carried upside down from the cafeteria to the principal’s office and his jaw was broken in the process. The school called Durrell saying there was blood on his son and his clothing and they didn’t know whose it was. When he picked up his son, the boy wasn’t talking and pointed to his mouth. His father rushed the child to the dentist where two teeth had to be pulled and they discovered the broken jaw.

Court documents show program coordinator “Krystal Perkins stated that her elbow had come into contact with C.B.D.’s face in the hallway. Beth Bonnette [school principal] also stated that she had contact with C.B.D.” The third school employee involved was listed as a school administrator. C.B.D. are the initials used to protect Durrell’s son’s identity.

But despite his best efforts, the boy’s father still doesn’t know what happened, despite cameras recording the incident.

The reason is that the school falls under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.
The State of Texas “has long recognized that sovereign immunity, unless waived, protects the State of Texas, its agencies, and its officials from lawsuits for damages, absent legislative consent to sue the State,”

according to “A Synopsis of Texas and Federal Sovereign Immunity Principles (http://www.stmaryslawjournal.org/pdfs/Phelan_II.pdf).”

There’s also a $100,000 cap on any damages given to a single person or a single incident.

Durrell was first told he could have a copy of the footage of the incident but was then told he’d have to subpoena it. A judge ordered the district to turn the tapes over. The district stalled until the deadline and then claimed the video was no longer available because someone “accidentally” recorded over it.

Durrell is taking the case to federal court because as a child diagnosed with ADHD and epilepsy, his son is “a member of a protected class” and can use federal civil rights statutes to charge Texas isn’t willing to provide protections.

“Texans hear so much propaganda (VRWC/Repug LIES) about ‘frivolous lawsuits’ in Texas that they assume you can sue for anything,” Ivey explained.

“Unfortunately,

public school districts and community colleges are protected from suits, about [almost] anything.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/texas-law-bars-parents-from-suing-schools-even-when-their-children-fall-into-a-den-of-rattlesnakes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Typical, red/slave Repug state, Texas FUCKIN SUCKS

boutons_deux

06-21-2017, 04:22 PM

In Texas, Another Medical Marijuana Fail

https://media1.fdncms.com/sacurrent/imager/u/blog/4416410/screen_shot_2017-06-20_at_1.26.04_pm.png?cb=1498062075 (https://media1.fdncms.com/sacurrent/imager/u/original/4416410/screen_shot_2017-06-20_at_1.26.04_pm.png)

[*=right]Shutterstock

In the state's latest medical marijuana hiccup, the Texas Department of Public Safety (http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/CUP/) has

approved only three dispensary licenses

— which will give companies the right to synthesize and distribute CBD— out of 43 applicants.

That was after the agency estimated that

Texas would need a minimum of 12 dispensaries

to serve patients across the state.

"The high cost of producing CBD combined with the relatively small market that exists in Texas will drive up prices to astronomical levels," he said. With few dispensaries spread out across state, "only a fortunate few patients who can afford it will be able to get the medicine."

there are about 40,000 epileptic people in Texas who could benefit from the use of CBD, and that 22 dispensaries

—not 3— might meet that demand. Under DPS's current plan, people living in rural areas far away from the urban-centered dispensaries will have to drive hours to get treatment.

doctors must "prescribe" CBD to patients. But that means they risk losing their DEA license as pot is classified alongside heroin or LSD.

http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/06/21/in-texas-another-medical-marijuana-fail

"compassionate Texanism" :lol

DPS is a medical group? :lol

I'm surprised TX actually got this far, but of course, they fucked it up badly.

And if racist Warrior on Drugs Sessions so much as winks at TX, the dispensaries will be shut down

boutons_deux

07-05-2017, 10:25 AM

:lol TX begging the Feds for Mo Money

Texas hospitals fear losing $6.2B Medicaid deal

Clinics will be closed, people will get sick, but Texas is calling the Medicaid expansion "broken"

Texas rejected billions in federal aid to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, calling the program “broken.” But now it’s asking the Trump administration to renew a deal that’s brought the state an additional $6.2 billion a year under Medicaid to help care for the poor.

Half the money is used to help hospitals finance care for the uninsured, and the rest goes to hospitals and other providers to test regional programs to improve care and access, such as opening school-based health clinics to steer people away from expensive emergency room visits.

State officials are hoping to win a 21-month extension (https://hhs.texas.gov/laws-regulations/policies-rules/waivers/medicaid-1115-waiver/waiver-renewal) of an agreement that began in 2011 and will expire in December.

Several states receive such funds but Texas’ allocation is the highest. To put Texas’ request in perspective, $6.2 billion represents more than a third of what the federal government now contributes to the state’s Medicaid program annually.

Texas kicks in the balance to pay for its $29 billion Medicaid program, which covers nearly 4.8 million people. (http://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/total-monthly-medicaid-and-chip-enrollment/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22 :%22asc%22%7D)

Obamacare Medicaid funding would have added 1 million Texans to the program.

But after the U.S. Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion optional for states, Texas lawmakers bristled at having anything to do with Obamacare or expanding government health coverage.

http://www.salon.com/2017/07/04/texas-hospitals-fear-losing-6-2b-medicaid-deal_partner/

:lol You fucking TX Repugs :lol

I'd love Price/Trash to say: "Texas, it's you on damn fault, go get a job and quit living off welfare. Freedom!"

boutons_deux

07-11-2017, 01:07 PM

Five New Laws that Will Likely Get Texas Sued (Or Already Have)

The Texas Legislature passed at least 5 arguably unconstitutional bills this year, and the special session hasn’t even started.

‘Sanctuary Cities’ Ban

Fetal Remains Requirement, Partial Ban on Second-Trimester Abortions

Religious Refusal for Child Welfare Providers

Straight-Ticket Voting Ban

Voter ID

https://www.texasobserver.org/five-new-laws-will-likely-get-texas-sued-already/

boutons_deux

07-11-2017, 01:15 PM

New Yorker uses SHITTY Texas as the shitty result of how America is devolving.

===================

America’s Future Is Texas

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/595693680a78e83f0c4f550e/master/w_4000,c_limit/170710_r30246.jpg
With right-wing zealots taking over the legislature even as the state’s demographics shift leftward, Texas has become the nation’s bellwether.

Texas is as politically divided as the rest of the U.S., but a

recurrent crop of crackpots and ideologues has fed its reputation for proud know-nothingism and retrograde thinking.
The state is as politically divided as the rest of the nation. One can drive across it and be in two different states at the same time:

FM Texas and AM Texas.

FM Texas is the silky voice of city dwellers, the kingdom of NPR. It is progressive, blue, reasonable, secular, and smug—almost like California.

AM Texas speaks to the suburbs and the rural areas:

Trumpland. It’s endless bluster and endless ads. Paranoia and piety are the main items on the menu.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas?mbid=nl_July%2010%20Second%20Send%20Active%2 0News&CNDID=43758549&spMailingID=11444933&spUserID=MTQzNTk4NzA3ODYzS0&spJobID=1200881779&spReportId=MTIwMDg4MTc3OQS2

boutons_deux

07-19-2017, 06:06 PM

Nirenberg Joins 17 Other Texas Mayors in Opposing Gov. Abbott's Big-Government Priorities

Whether its prohibiting cities from upholding tree laws or forcing public schools to keep trans kids out of bathrooms, Governor Greg Abbott has made limiting local control the focus of the Texas Legislature special session.

“I’m calling for further legislation that fully pre-empts [local control],” said Abbott

... when he unveiled the session's priorities in June. "We don’t need a patchwork quilt of regulations.

The majority of Abbott's 20 special session priorities (https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-announces-special-session) are aimed at squashing local government control.

Lawmakers will consider bills that override city rules for

regulating constriction projects,

public restrooms,

special need programs in public schools,

property taxes and

annexation.

Even the smallest city regulations will get a legislative analysis — the mayors sent this letter the same day

Abbott eviscerated cities for penning rules that protect older trees in the city, calling it "socialism."

https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/07/19/nirenberg-joins-17-other-texas-mayors-in-opposing-gov-abbotts-big-government-priorities

Abbott is going full autocrat, full disenfranchisement of voters in municipal elections.

Fuck TX, fuck TX Repugs, fuck you TX voters who elect these Repugs assholes.

boutons_deux

07-19-2017, 06:29 PM

Transgender ‘bathroom buddy’ photo with Texas governor ignites a firestorm over the ‘Potty Police’

http://2d0yaz2jiom3c6vy7e7e5svk.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/reuters-3.jpg

Architect Ashley Smith chatted briefly with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on education,

had a photo snapped and started a social media storm about bathroom access for transgender people.

Smith, a 45-year-old transgender woman from San Antonio, :lol

posted the photo with Republican Abbott on social media last weekend with hashtag #BathroomBuddy

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/transgender-bathroom-buddy-photo-with-texas-governor-ignites-a-firestorm-over-the-potty-police/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29

Adam Lambert

07-20-2017, 09:34 AM

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/07/19/increasingly-anti-business-republicans-just-dismantled-texas-miracle

Increasingly anti-business, Republicans have just about dismantled the Texas Miracle

AUSTIN — The once mighty Texas Miracle is rapidly becoming the Texas Debacle.

After years of leading the nation's job growth, Texas has now sunk near the bottom: 39th, to be exact. The Republican mantra of lower taxes and still-lower regulation has done nothing but disprove itself. Meanwhile, the Republicans that control state government have convened a special session with economic growth nowhere on the agenda — indeed, the opposite is true. The Republican Party has completed an astonishing metamorphosis: It is unabashedly anti-business.

Not all that long ago, Texas was indeed a bit of a miracle, and that went on even after the rest of the country picked up a little economic steam. From 2007 to 2015, Texas created over 1.4 million jobs, more than the next six states combined. Rick Perry and conservatives from Austin to Washington crowed that the Texas juggernaut was the result of low taxes and few regulations.

Enter Greg Abbott, and the juggernaut becomes more of a Lilliput. Abbott certainly didn't increase taxes or expand regulation, but he has shown scant interest in economics, save for taking credit at a grand opening or two and repeating the mantra about taxes and regulation. Meanwhile, the Legislature has steadily drifted into opposition of business.

Companies like American Airlines, Google and members of the Texas Association of Business are opposed to micro-managing cities — where the economic growth has been created — while Republicans want to do precisely that, down to asking people's nationality and policing bathrooms. Abbott calls these "values." And values, of course, are the first refuge of politicians who can't deliver the economic goods.

Under Abbott, the state government has simply stopped crowing about jobs and growth because, well, there isn't much of either. The governor has shown up in Plano and San Antonio to pat himself on the back for the relocation of Toyota's headquarters and a Boeing division, respectively, but he made only a passing reference to the economy when he declared his re-election campaign.

And yet the numbers don't lie. At 4.8 percent, the Texas unemployment rate is higher than the national average for the first time in years. That percentage, by the way, means that 700,000 Texans are out of work. The state's overall economic output, the gross state product, has been flat at $1.6 trillion annually even as the state's population continues to rise. That means that Texas now is just about on par with Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi, states with small economies that are nearly perpetually stalled for structural reasons. Now in Texas, too, flat is the new up.

The fact is that superficial political bumper stickers don't explain complex business decisions. What about dreaded, liberal California with its regulations, taxes and laws? Unemployment there is actually lower than in Texas. And plenty of high-tax, high-regulation, Democratic states top the list of the best job markets right alongside low-tax, low-regulation Republican states. Colorado, North Dakota, Hawaii, Nebraska and New Hampshire are the top five. This year, Washington ranked as the best state for business in CNBC's annual survey of executives, while Texas tumbled to fourth — out of the top two spots for the first time in 11 years.

The dogma that has been substituted for economic wisdom in the Republican Party is wrong. A business gets started in Texas or moves here for a dozen reasons, the most important of which are availability of capital, quality of workers, costs of production and quality of life. Do taxes and regulations enter into the picture? Sure. But so do workforce readiness, education, infrastructure, quality of life and cost of living.

Abbott and Texas Republicans certainly aren't talking about the debacle over jobs because they don't want to bring up an issue on which they've failed and on which their empty parroting about taxes and regulations has been disproved. Or maybe they're not talking about economic growth because they don't know anything about it — except maybe how to stand in its way.

Richard Parker is the author of "Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America." He wrote this for The Dallas Morning News. Twitter: RichardParkerTX

boutons_deux

07-20-2017, 09:54 AM

How California Bested Texas

These days, though, no one is talking about the lessons California should learn from Texas. California’s economy is improving, and its budget is finally balanced (http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-is-jerry-brown-downplaying-californias-recovery)—partly because of budget cuts and a voter-approved tax hike in 2012, and partly because the stock-market boom has translated into more tax receipts from California’s wealthiest residents (the ones with those high income-tax rates).

These changes happen to come as Texas, the nation’s biggest oil-producing state by far, is grappling with a collapse in oil prices (http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/opecs-holiday-present-helps-everyone-except-frackers), which has depressed the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to under fifty dollars a barrel for the first time in more than five years.

It will be several months before the government publishes figures on G.D.P. and business creation for the period coinciding with the drop in oil prices, but already there are signs of trouble.

Michael Feroli, the chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, said in December, “We think Texas will, at least, have a rough 2015 ahead, and is at risk of slipping into a regional recession.” The Texas budget, too, could be hurt by lost oil and gas taxes.
Brown, who was sworn in on Monday for a second consecutive term as governor of California (his fourth, including a stint from the late seventies to the early eighties), must have enjoyed a moment of schadenfreude if he happened to scan the Wall Street Journal_ _on his way to the inauguration. In an article on how the oil slump could hurt Texas, Jon Hilsenrath and his colleagues wrote (http://www.wsj.com/articles/plunging-oil-prices-test-texas-economic-boom-1420428781),

“Some Texans sobered by memories of past energy busts are bracing for a fall. The argument among economists and business leaders isn’t whether the state will be hurt, but how badly.”

The concerns about Texas’s fortunes speak to a misperception of the state’s recent boom, and of California’s bust.

Texas’s outperformance of California had a lot to do with factors beyond the control of politicians like Perry and Newsom—namely, the importance of real estate to California’s economy, and the importance of oil to Texas’s.

In 2008, the real-estate and rental-and-leasing sectors were responsible for about sixteen per cent of California’s G.D.P., almost double the proportion in Texas. So it was inevitable that California was hit harder by the housing crash that sparked the recession than Texas was.

At the same time, Texas benefitted disproportionately from a rise in oil prices in recent years.

Oil and gas extraction makes up about eleven per cent of Texas’s economy, compared with one per cent of California’s.

In 2008, the year the recession began, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil hit a record, topping a hundred and forty dollars a barrel; the price fell later that year, but it recovered relatively fast, reaching a hundred dollars again by 2011.

Mark Muro, the policy director at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, told me that ??

the recent natural-gas boom (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/16/the-president-and-the-pipeline), coupled with rising oil prices, has been largely responsible for Texas’s growth, in G.D.P. as well as in employment and new business establishments, since the recession.

The role of policy measures like low taxes and the light regulation of businesses was probably overstated, he said.

The researchers’ findings were somewhat surprising.

Texas has a significant presence in five of the fifty advanced industries. That makes it the twelfth most diverse state—less diverse than

California, which is involved in fourteen advanced industries,

but more so than New York, the third-most-populous state.

But three of the five advanced industries present in Texas are related to the energy sector

—for instance, manufacturing of petroleum and coal products—which means they could be vulnerable to the oil crash, too. “By this measure, Texas is not monolithically tied to oil and gas, but it’s highly oriented towards it,” Muro told me. “One would have to wonder about the implications of the gas crash.”

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/california-bested-texas

boutons_deux

07-28-2017, 05:36 PM

What Texas Tells Us About the Latest Threats to Women’s Health Care

Planned Parenthood operates more than six hundred clinics across the country, and

a majority of its patients have incomes that fall near or below the federal poverty level;

the organization receives around forty per cent of its revenue from federal funding, mostly through Medicaid.

Cutting off those payments would be a drastic change for women’s health care in this country.

For a glimpse of just how drastic it would be, we can look to Texas, where state legislators have been systematically defunding and handicapping Planned Parenthood for years.

Currently, the Texas legislature is in special session, and three more anti-abortion measures have already been passed.

One of them prevents local and state government agencies from contracting in any way—including via lease agreements—with clinics that are affiliated with abortion providers.

As with the federal provision attached to the repeal of Obamacare, Planned Parenthood is not mentioned by name in this Texas bill.

And yet, as Texas senators acknowledged last Friday (https://www.texastribune.org/2017/07/26/senate-abortion-insurance/), the bill only affects Planned Parenthood.

The campaign against Planned Parenthood in Texas kicked off in 2011, a point when, as Lawrence Wright noted recently in the magazine (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/americas-future-is-texas),

the organization was serving sixty per cent of the health needs of low-income women in the state.

the state government cut family-planning spending by two-thirds and approved a budget that, starting in 2013, banned Planned Parenthood from participating in the state’s women’s-health program, now called Healthy Texas Women.

Texas had to give up a nine-to-one federal funding match. Millions of dollars in spending for women’s health care were turned away.

sixteen additional states have already proposed or approved similar bans.

Within months of the family-planning budget getting slashed in Texas, more than sixty women’s-health clinics had closed.

Teen abortions and teen births have both been increasing in Texas since 2011, and

the maternal mortality rate in Texas doubled from 2010 to 2014.

It’s now 35.8 deaths per hundred thousand live births—

the worst maternal mortality rate you can find in the developed world. (TGB: Electing Repugs has consquences: dead women, more unwanted pregnancies, more abortions)

“Twenty or thirty years ago,” she told me over the phone, “we saw mainly women under the age of thirty-five. These days, as Texas women lose access to other options, we’re seeing more women, and a wider range of women—preteens up to women in their fifties and sixties.”

the Austin-area clinics have begun seeing more and more patients from farther away.

We routinely send prescriptions out in a seventy-five-to-one-hundred-mile radius.”

Years ago, I had a Planned Parenthood bumper sticker, and someone slashed my tires,”

Planned Parenthood serves such a large portion of low-income women, and has done so for so long, that other clinics are logistically incapable of picking up the slack.

“There is a real fear, if Texas continues along this line, if they continue to downgrade our funding—where will these women go?”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-texas-tells-us-about-the-latest-threats-to-womens-health-care?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(36)&CNDID=43758549&spMailingID=11578863&spUserID=MTQzNTk4NzA3ODYzS0&spJobID=1202553527&spReportId=MTIwMjU1MzUyNwS2

Fuck TX Repugs, Fuck you Repug voters, and above all, Fuck Texas Christian Sharia

boutons_deux

08-01-2017, 07:33 AM

TX Christian Sharia news

Dozens Of Texas Businesses Tell Governor To Ditch ‘Bathroom Bill’

Discriminating against the transgender community is simply bad for business, they say.

More than 50 Houston-based businesses, including many big oil and gas companies, on Monday joined several other business groups in urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to drop the state’s so-called bathroom bill.

The bill, passed (https://www.texastribune.org/2017/07/21/watch-hundreds-texas-testify-bathroom-bill/) by the Texas Senate earlier this month and now awaiting Abbott’s signature,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-bathroom-bill-letter_us_597f961be4b08e143004d675?utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__080117&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__080117+CID_aab2173f d55d83c6c55bbc305653daee&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__080117

boutons_deux

08-15-2017, 09:41 PM

Texas 'bathroom bill' dies in special legislative session

Texas measures to restrict access for transgender people to bathrooms in schools and public buildings died on Tuesday as the House adjourned and ended its special legislative session.

Business leaders and civil rights groups had campaigned heavily to defeat the bills, saying they were discriminatory and would damage the economy. The measures were blocked by moderate House Republicans.

Enactment in Texas, the most populous Republican-dominated state, could have given momentum to other socially conservative states for additional action on an issue that has become a flashpoint in the U.S. culture wars.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-lgbt-idUSKCN1AW038?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F +US+%2F+Top+News%29

Texas corporate money talks, Abbott gets stood up.

Blake

08-16-2017, 08:22 AM

Good. It would suck to see a bunch of sporting events and corporations leave Texas

boutons_deux

08-16-2017, 08:57 AM

Good. It would suck to see a bunch of sporting events and corporations leave Texas

Big money more important than Christian Sharia hate, even in Bible-humping TX.

boutons_deux

08-17-2017, 10:25 PM

Texas voting law on language interpreters violates Voting Rights Act

Texas violated the Voting Rights Act by restricting the interpretation assistance English-limited voters may receive

U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an obscure provision of the Texas Election Code that requires interpreters helping someone cast a ballot to also be registered to vote in the same county in which they are providing help clashes with federal voting protections.

That Texas law, the court found, violates a less-known section of the Voting Rights Act under which any voter who needs assistance because of visual impairments, disabilities or literacy skills can be helped in casting a ballot by the person of their choice, as long as it’s not their employer or a union leader.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/08/17/texas-voting-law-language-interpreters-ruled-unconstitutional/

If hyper-conservative/Priscilla-Owen 5th circuit says it's illegal, it's REALLY illegal

Fuck TX Repugs and FUCK you assholes who elect them.

boutons_deux

08-31-2017, 12:12 AM

Abbott got stood up and knock the fucked over

Judge Blocks Texas Immigration Crackdown

An injunction prevents a state law banning so-called sanctuary cities from taking effect.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-immigration-crackdown-injunction_us_59a7037de4b084581a151b1d?utm_medium= email&utm_campaign=__BREAKING__%20Judge%20Blocks%20Texas %20Immigration%20Crackdown&utm_content=__BREAKING__%20Judge%20Blocks%20Texas% 20Immigration%20Crackdown+CID_534667cd0a11453cad14 ef27a32ff1a8&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Read%20More&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__BREAKING__%20Judge%20Blocks %20Texas%20Immigration%20Crackdown

appeal the corrupt, packed 5th Circuit ( Priscilla Owen! :lol ) and it'll go

Pavlov

08-31-2017, 12:14 AM

Fun fact: We don't know exactly what might be exploding soon in Crosby because Abbott made it so that the chemical company doesn't have to tell anyone.

boutons_deux

10-28-2017, 07:08 AM

Legislators mull changing Texas law allowing criminal charges against rent-to-own customers

Texas lawmakers from both sides of the aisle said Friday they are mulling legislative reforms to criminal laws that allow rent-to-own companies to pursue criminal theft charges against customers who default on payments for sofas, TVs and other merchandis

an obscure provision of the penal code written 40 years ago by rental industry lobbyists. There are similar laws in other U.S. states, leading to the filing of charges against thousands of rent-to-own customers nationwide,

“enormously unfair” that a contract dispute could end up with one of the parties getting arrested.

“I don’t know why the police are ever involved in something like this,” Watson said. “It smacks of debtors’ prisons.

You find yourself involved in a misunderstanding, or even a legitimate dispute and one side can have you hauled to jail. We need to look at that. That doesn’t sound fair.”

compared the Tribune's findings to the concept of debtors' prisons, which are prohibited by the Texas Constitution.

"Ultimately it comes down to prosecutorial discretion," Milam said. "In general they have an attitude of, if the law says it's illegal, we're just gonna file it."

"Without exception, no one that I’ve talked had any idea at the time they rented the items that they could ever be criminally prosecuted.

“If there are problems for those businesses as creditors in reclaiming their property through the civil justice system,

that's where the reforms need to happen,” he said. “This criminal justice provision probably just needs to be eliminated.”

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/27/lawmakers-mull-changes-theft-service-statute/

I suppose it's poor people with bad credit who do rent-to-buy programs, paying a huge interest rate even if they keep up, but if they fall behind, they are arrested and charged as criminals, screwing their job prospects.

And for 40 years, no legislator knew it was happening? :lol They were paid to be ignorant

the rent-to-buy industry will certainly buy enough TX whore politicians to block reform, just like it bought enough politicians to pass the "law" the industry wrote.

boutons_deux

10-30-2017, 12:54 AM

.... continuing the preceding post:

Kicking in doors and crushing credit: How a Texas-based retailer torments customers

Thousands of Rent-A-Center customers are complaining in growing numbers of harassment and wrecked finances after leasing furniture, electronics or appliances from the Plano-based company.

Olivia Quinn stands next to a dresser she bought as a part of a bedroom set from Acceptance Now, on Friday, Sept. 22, 2017 in Newport News, Va. Quinn says a series of mistakes by the company led to a ding on her credit report, which cost her years of hassle and a mortgage.

Leroy Walton of Georgia settled his account with Rent-A-Center in 2013, his records show. But for years after, he says debt collectors pursued him, even threatening him with arrest.

Jessica Gonzalez’s federal lawsuit says she huddled (https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/rent-a-center-customer-fear/) with her two sons in a closet of her Florida home while a Rent-A-Center employee pounded on her house to collect money.

And Andrea Gorman told authorities that Rent-A-Center workers kicked in the front door of her Ohio home after she fell behind on payments.

Customers say their credit scores had been damaged unfairly and they were hounded by debt collectors after they settled their accounts.

Many documented lengthy, unsuccessful attempts to get Rent-A-Center to correct its records, a joint investigation by NerdWallet and Raycom Media found.

Even Rent-A-Center shareholders have complained, filing a lawsuit against the company that argued shoddy record-keeping has damaged the business.

A Vizio soundbar with subwoofer retails for $148 at Amazon.

It would cost more than five times as much, $779, if lease-purchased in a one-year contract from Rent-A-Center.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/30/kicking-doors-and-crushing-credit-how-texas-based-retailer-torments-cu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Speese $2M / year

boutons_deux

11-07-2017, 09:19 AM

Taking Texas to trial: the latest on the state's court battles

Texas has a host of high-profile legal battles in the works, ranging from voting rights to political maps.

The “sanctuary cities” law

Redrawing the state’s House and congressional maps

State ban on second-trimester abortion procedure

Fetal remains

Language interpreters

Same-sex marriage benefits

Child welfare

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/11/06/texas-trial-roundup-states-court-battles/

Nbadan

06-11-2019, 11:20 PM

Texas governor signs 'Save Chick-fil-A' bill

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has signed into law a bill meant to protect private entities from punishment over actions they take due to their religious beliefs.

The bill, which was signed into law Monday, according to local news affiliate KVUE, came in response to efforts by the San Antonio City Council to block a Chick-fil-A location from opening in the San Antonio airport. Consequently, the bill has been dubbed the "Save-Chick-fil-A" bill, according to local news outlet KVUE.

Abbott himself signed the bill shortly after posting on social media a picture of him eating Chick-fil-A.

Critics of the popular fast food chain argued that the owner's support for anti-gay groups and opposition to gay marriage should prohibit the chain from setting up a store in the airport.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/448065-texas-governor-signs-save-chick-fil-a-bill

boutons_deux

06-12-2019, 07:51 AM

The city of San Antonio has "deeply held moral beliefs" that TX Christian Taliban shitbags are bulldozing.

What if CfA were run by Muslims? Would TX Repugs protect them?

Chris

06-14-2019, 09:59 PM

https://twitter.com/Liz_Wheeler/status/1139659807080636416?s=19

:tu

Winehole23

06-14-2019, 10:32 PM

Lol giving Greg Abbott credit for the legislative session. He can't do anything but sign it, the Texas Gov has zero power to set the agenda outside of a special session.

Spurminator

06-15-2019, 09:31 AM

Texas governor signs 'Save Chick-fil-A' bill

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/448065-texas-governor-signs-save-chick-fil-a-bill

You really have to give it to Republicans for knowing their audience and dumbing down the branding of legislation accordingly.

As though Chick-Fil-A is in any danger and needs saving. Maybe Democrats need to introduce voting rights legislation under the name of "Support Chip and Joanna's Rights."

pgardn

06-15-2019, 10:02 AM

You really have to give it to Republicans for knowing their audience and dumbing down the branding of legislation accordingly.

As though Chick-Fil-A is in any danger and needs saving. Maybe Democrats need to introduce voting rights legislation under the name of "Support Chip and Joanna's Rights."

This is a joke.
Save Chic Fil A, they are under extreme attack by Muslims.
Now we got Chris worried.

Pavlov

06-15-2019, 10:40 AM

https://twitter.com/Liz_Wheeler/status/1139659807080636416?s=19

:tuNothing about property taxes?

boutons_deux

06-15-2019, 11:00 AM

Nothing about property taxes?

sure, 2.5% or more increase in property taxes must now be voted on by referendum.

The assumption is that all taxes are bad, and tax revenues are wasted anyway, so why not defund (blue cities) into dysfunctionality?
'

Pavlov

06-15-2019, 11:11 AM

sure, 2.5% or more increase in property taxes must now be voted on by referendum.

The assumption is that all taxes are bad, and tax revenues are wasted anyway, so why not defund (blue cities) into dysfunctionality?
'So tax hikes are just going to be 2.4%?

lol

boutons_deux

06-15-2019, 11:27 AM

So tax hikes are just going to be 2.4%?

lol

another excellent take

Pavlov

06-15-2019, 11:29 AM

another excellent takeIs it somehow inaccurate?

Let me know your specific bitch here.

boutons_deux

06-15-2019, 12:01 PM

Is it somehow inaccurate?

Let me know your specific bitch here.

pfarten's arithmetic is accurate.

=============

Why Texas property taxes are expected to skyrocket again this year

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2019/02/04/why-texas-property-taxes-are-expected-to-skyrocket.html (https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2019/02/04/why-texas-property-taxes-are-expected-to-skyrocket.html)

====

Texas has third-highest property tax rate for single-family homes, study finds

https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/politics/article/Texas-has-third-highest-property-tax-rate-for-13753330.php (https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/politics/article/Texas-has-third-highest-property-tax-rate-for-13753330.php)

===============

2019’s Property Taxes by State

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/

==================

raising TX property tax from 1.83% by 2.4% gives 1.87%, aka, "skyrocketing" :lol

I cannot find the history of TX property taxes increases.

=============================

Breaking it down: This is how the new Texas property tax law affects you

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/watchdog/2019/06/14/breaking-new-texas-property-tax-law-affects

Shitbag Repugs are adding to state finance of public schools (of course with $100Ms stolen by charter schools) while reducing the property tax contribution to public schools.

"The state is also pumping billions into the school system in state dollars.

The amount paid for each student will jump from $5,180 to $6,160."

=========

(Big Badass) Texas ranks 36th nationally in per-student education spending.

https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/15/texas-student-teacher-spending-average/ (https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/15/texas-student-teacher-spending-average/)

TX is down at the bottom half in investing in education, just like all the other red/slave states.

Pavlov

06-15-2019, 12:31 PM

Yeah, that's why I didn't find it to be a yuge deal.

CosmicCowboy

06-15-2019, 01:04 PM

Texas is top 10 lowest cost of living in US so the education spending level is appropriate.

Has a cause/effect relationship between spending and results even been established?

Winehole23

06-15-2019, 01:10 PM

Texas is top 10 lowest cost of living in US so the education spending level is appropriate.

Has a cause/effect relationship between spending and results even been established?How did you come to the conclusion the spending level is appropriate and that Texas kids are already getting a good education?

CosmicCowboy

06-15-2019, 01:19 PM

How did you come to the conclusion the spending level is appropriate and that Texas kids are already getting a good education?

If you rank states from most expensive to live to least expensive to live Texas ranks 41st making it in the top 10 cheapest places to live in the US.

Logic should dictate that education spending should be in proportion to cost of living and one would expect Texas to rank around 41st in education spending. Instead, they are 36th in education spending.

TeyshaBlue

06-15-2019, 01:24 PM

How did you come to the conclusion the spending level is appropriate and that Texas kids are already getting a good education?

In the absence of any meaningful metrics, Tx has one of the leading graduation rates in the nation...

Winehole23

06-15-2019, 01:40 PM

In the absence of any meaningful metrics, Tx has one of the leading graduation rates in the nation...That's an indication kids are getting hustled out the door, not that they've been adequately prepared for a four year degree program, tbh.

Winehole23

06-15-2019, 01:41 PM

If you rank states from most expensive to live to least expensive to live Texas ranks 41st making it in the top 10 cheapest places to live in the US.

Logic should dictate that education spending should be in proportion to cost of living and one would expect Texas to rank around 41st in education spending. Instead, they are 36th in education spending.I see you took a flyer on my question about quality. The rest is pseudologic, tbh.

TeyshaBlue

06-15-2019, 01:47 PM

That's an indication kids are getting hustled out the door, not that they've been adequately prepared for a four year degree program, tbh.

Hence "In the absence of any meaningful metrics".
Not sure any schools are doing a particularly great job of this right now. Pretty sure money is a shitty indicator of anything.

Winehole23

06-15-2019, 01:51 PM

Hence "In the absence of any meaningful metrics".
Not sure any schools are doing a particularly great job of this right now. Pretty sure money is a shitty indicator of anything.I quite agree.

It's easy to stand on official stats and act authoritative.

IRL it's much more difficult to find the dimensions of the problems and the right solutions.

boutons_deux

06-15-2019, 02:01 PM

In the absence of any meaningful metrics, Tx has one of the leading graduation rates in the nation...

so many ways to interpret that rate as meaningless, but is some mysterious way perhaps meaningful

how about how many HS grads continue to 4 year colleges AND graduate?

not a fair measure to the poor HS grads faced with ripoff college costs

If there were some NATIONAL evaluation, like a national test, but that leads to teaching to the test and cheating.

Since money arbitrates, defines EVERYTHING in America, how much a state spends on K-12 education must somehow indicate that red/slave states are more stupid ("low ed, low wage"), more ignorant than the blue states :lol

how about teacher qualifications?

must a teacher have a degree in the subject(s) they teach,

or just ignorantly bullshit their way through somebody else's lesson plan?

teacher churn?

class size?

all of which influence the quality of the teaching

based on how teachers are being blamed, devalued, disrespected for the so-called failure of public education, maybe US society should consider where it ranks teaching as profession, which is lowly ranked.

search "teaching in texas is hard, bad", to find lots of TX articles about the state of TX K-12 teaching and teacher.

=====

10 reasons why Finland's education system is the best

https://bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world (https://bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world)

==========

self-serving, tax-hating, govt-destroying rightwingnutjobs say more money on education doesn't get better outcomes, so keep cutting school budgets, keep devaluing teachers and public schools. A great formula