How The Repug bags Roll in hole Texas

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I'll tote it up on mother er Biden's side of the COVID Death Ledger, bouts. Thank you, thank you, kindly.

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so bag TX Repugs won't political control over private companies?

Texas passes social media 'de-platforming' law

The US state of Texas has made it illegal for social media platforms to ban users "based on their political viewpoints".

Prominent Republican politicians have accused Facebook, Twitter and others of censoring conservative views.

The social networks have all denied stifling conservative views.

However, they do enforce terms of service which prohibit content such as incitement to violence and co-ordinated disinformation.

"Social media websites have become our modern-day public square," said Texas governor Greg Abbott, NO, they are private companies, NOT the public square.
Critics say

the law does not respect the cons utional right of private businesses to decide what sort of content is allowed on their platforms.


"This bill abandons conservative values, violates the First Amendment, and

forces websites to host obscene, anti-semitic, racist, hateful and otherwise awful content,"



"Moderation of user posts is crucial to keeping the internet safe for Texas families, but

this bill would put the Texas government in charge of content policies."


https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58516155

bag Repugs, emulating Bolsonaro, Orban, Pootin, in hole TX demonstrating their fascist bona fides.

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Here comes another Texas voter purge, but this time with a wrinkle

Two years after Texas officials fumbled an effort to double-check the voting rolls on a hunt for noncitizens —

and instead threatened the voting rights of nearly 60,000 eligible Texans —

similar efforts to purge noncitizen voters are now the law of the land, thanks to provisions tucked into the massive elections bill enacted this month.

The secretary of state will again be allowed to regularly compare driver’s license records to voter registration lists in a quest to find people who are not eligible.

Starting by December of this year, the secretary of state will review Department of Public Safety records every month looking for potential noncitizens.

But this time, lawmakers have put in a provision that intentionally bars the secretary of state from going too far back in time as they scour driver’s license records,

In some instances, the state flagged legal voters who had become naturalized citizens since the time they first applied for a driver’s license a decade or more earlier.

Noncitizens, including those with visas or green cards to stay in the U.S., are able to get Texas driver’s licenses.

The state’s 2019 analysis flagged those drivers, but it never accounted for the fact that about 50,000 Texans become naturalized citizens each year.

still worried about the reliability of DPS driver’s license databases and the

inherent pitfalls of trying to compare millions of records against millions of other records.

He said there is just too much room for error.
“There are still concerns that they will be falsely flagging people,”

Voters flagged: 18,000 in Harris and 5,000 in Bexar

the new law prohibits the state from using DPS data from before a person’s voter registration became effective.

Hughes, R-Mineola, defended the voter purge process, which he called list maintenance.

Texas Republicans’ massive elections bill, which they say is aimed at making it harder for people to cheat in Texas elections,

though they have found no evidence of widespread fraud.

Since January 2014, Texas has added 3.1 million voters for a total of 16.7 million — a 23 percent increase.

https://www.expressnews.com/politics...s-16464794.php

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'Out of breath': Oversight of hazardous Texas concrete plant emissions comes to a head

With more than two dozen such plants that supply wet concrete ready to be poured in the San Antonio area, and more than 1,300 across Texas, many residential neighborhoods like hers live with the dust they generate.

But it’s more than a nuisance. It contains tiny particles that can be hazardous to people’s health.

Crystalline silica, a mineral present in the cement and other materials at batch plants, has been linked to lung disease, chronic respiratory problems and silicosis.

Plant operators do not monitor silica emissions. Nor does Texas’ environmental regulator.

For years, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

said the material doesn’t need to be regulated at batch plants, and for that reason, the state historically did not require plant operators to monitor the air for silica.

the TCEQ inadvertently removed an exemption for silica.

Technically, the plants have been required to eliminate silica from their emissions since then.

But no plants in Texas are known to have done so,

and the TCEQ has not enforced the requirement.

The industry maintains it’s impossible to produce concrete without releasing silica particles.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...s-16465483.php

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One county telling bag Repugs to off

The delta variant is wreaking havoc on most of Texas — but not El Paso. Here’s why.

in El Paso, where COVID-19 killed so many people late last year that the county had to use inmates to help with the overflow of bodies at the morgue.

El Paso — with one of the highest vaccination rates in the state — has been relatively unscathed by the most recent surge.

El Paso-area hospitals, which serve nearly a million West Texas residents, haven't come close to their previous highs.

El Paso's peak for COVID-19 hospitalizations was just over 1,100 in mid-November,

On Thursday, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in El Paso was 127.

the city's daily hospitalization numbers haven't broken 200 since March,

much of the credit can be attributed to the area's high vaccination rate, widespread compliance with masking and social distancing, and a strong partnership among local community and health care leaders.

The share of COVID-19 tests in El Paso that come back positive is hovering around 6%, while the statewide positivity rate is three times that at 18%.

COVID-19 patients, ... in El Paso they accounted for only 7% of patients in local hospitals.

"Compared to the rest of Texas, we're in heaven,"

https://www.rawstory.com/the-delta-variant-is-wreaking-havoc-on-most-of-texas-but-not-el-paso-heres-why/

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Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls Haitian migrant surge an 'invasion,' echoing conspiracy theory

Patrick's comments echo a conspiracy theory holding that minority ethnic groups are engaged in a plot to take over government structures from whites. -- Express News email

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One county telling bag Repugs to off

The delta variant is wreaking havoc on most of Texas — but not El Paso. Here’s why.

in El Paso, where COVID-19 killed so many people late last year that the county had to use inmates to help with the overflow of bodies at the morgue.

El Paso — with one of the highest vaccination rates in the state — has been relatively unscathed by the most recent surge.

El Paso-area hospitals, which serve nearly a million West Texas residents, haven't come close to their previous highs.

El Paso's peak for COVID-19 hospitalizations was just over 1,100 in mid-November,

On Thursday, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in El Paso was 127.

the city's daily hospitalization numbers haven't broken 200 since March,

much of the credit can be attributed to the area's high vaccination rate, widespread compliance with masking and social distancing, and a strong partnership among local community and health care leaders.

The share of COVID-19 tests in El Paso that come back positive is hovering around 6%, while the statewide positivity rate is three times that at 18%.

COVID-19 patients, ... in El Paso they accounted for only 7% of patients in local hospitals.

"Compared to the rest of Texas, we're in heaven,"

https://www.rawstory.com/the-delta-variant-is-wreaking-havoc-on-most-of-texas-but-not-el-paso-heres-why/

Nonetheless those numbers tote up just like all the others, bouts. And I'm fixin' ta lodge 'em upon this here Forum late this week, daddy.

Let us proceed...

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Gov. Abbott to pick Texas secretary of state, who has vast powers from elections bill

AUSTIN — The new GOP elections law gives broad new powers to the Texas secretary of state, and by extension Gov. Greg Abbott, who will choose its next leader.

Whomever the Republican governor picks could shape Texas elections for years to come.

When the law takes effect Dec. 2, the secretary of state will be newly empowered to fine counties up to $1,000 a day and to audit potentially years’ worth of their elections.

The office will also have broader ability to pass on alleged voter fraud or missteps by election officials to the attorney general, who has made prosecuting election violations a top priority.

The law leaves much of the rule-writing up to the secretary of state, so the office will have discretion in how it wields the new power.

-- Dallas Morning News email

TX bags going all in old Repug Big Lie of voter fraud as pretext to suppress non-white votes. you people

... all will be moot if Dems can pass a NATIONAL voting rights law

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ignorant bags, Deep in The Butthole of Texas

About1 in 4 Texans say they likely won’t get COVID vaccine,

https://link.dallasnews.com/lt.php?i=19269A19941A104A875753

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As bag fascist Repugs start to gerrymander hole Texas this week ...

Most Texans oppose gerrymandering, disagree that party in power should be able to rig political maps

https://link.dallasnews.com/lt.php?i...9943A27A876081

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As bag fascist Repugs start to gerrymander hole Texas this week ...

Most Texans oppose gerrymandering, disagree that party in power should be able to rig political maps

https://link.dallasnews.com/lt.php?i...9943A27A876081

Tougheth lucketh.

[Frenchfred]

ignorant bags, Deep in The Butthole of Texas

About1 in 4 Texans say they likely won’t get COVID vaccine,

https://link.dallasnews.com/lt.php?i=19269A19941A104A875753

That's 7.5 millions people, with 1% death rate, that's another 75k potential deaths. As long as they are republicans, play stupid games...

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TEA now says school districts cannot require masks,
as feds launch investigation of Abbott order


The investigation will focus on whether students with disabilities who are at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19 are prevented from safely returning to in-person education, in violation of federal law,

Texas Education Agency released new guidance saying public school systems cannot require students or staff to wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 because of Abbott’s order prohibiting mask requirements.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/hou...e-16476775.php

As TX leads the nation in kids dead from covid, and many 100s of kids in hospitals with covid and rsv

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Texas appellate justices appear skeptical of Attorney General Ken

Paxton defense that he’s exempt from state’s whistleblower law

Paxton’s attorneys argued to a panel of Texas 3rd Court of Appeals justices on Wednesday that

a lawsuit from former deputies should be thrown out.

The ex-employees claim they were fired after reporting Paxton to law enforcement.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09...awsuit-appeal/

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TCEQ

OKs crystalline silica exemption for concrete batch plants

rejected pleas from residents and organizations not to discard a limit on potentially harmful emissions from hundreds of plants that supply wet concrete to construction sites throughout the state.

concrete batch plants, emit dust while mixing cement, air and materials such as sand and gravel in large drums.

plants are often close to residential areas.

The dust they emit contains crystalline silica, which has been linked to lung disease, chronic respiratory problems and silicosis.

Until 2012, the TCEQ issued air quality permits for batch plants that included an exemption for limiting crystalline silica from their emissions.

The exemption was removed inadvertently that year,

the exemption has been restored.

The TCEQ has issued about 800 permits since 2012 with no issues arising, Janecka said.
“That makes a good argument for me that this was just a clerical error

that needs to be fixed,”

hundreds of Texans and two dozen state senators asked the agency to study the effects of crystalline silica further before acting.

TCEQ was not transparent enough regarding the permit revision and that

the agency needs to take more time to understand crystalline silica’s effects.

TCEQ has been overly deferential to concrete plant operators in this matter.

https://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...r-16479594.php

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Big Tech sues Texas over new law regulating social media

Texas’ new law regulating how social media companies can moderate content, arguing that the policy violates the online platforms’ right to free speech.

prohibits social media companies with more than 50 million monthly active users from banning or suspending users based on their viewpoint.

They also cannot remove or “deny equal access or visibility” to content based on a user’s viewpoint.

Republicans who say Facebook, Twitter and other platforms are censoring or silencing conservatives —

including former president Donald Trump.

“It is now law that conservative viewpoints in Texas cannot be banned on social media,” Gov. Greg Abbott said

Texas’ social media law

“would put Nazi party political speech and extremist messages

from Taliban sympathizers on equal footing with ‘God Bless America’”

by “forcing (online) companies to give equal treatment to all viewpoints.”

https://www.expressnews.com/politics...g-16479333.php

hole TX bag Repugs blocking the 1st Amendment "free expression" of "corporations are people, too"

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The Republicans Who Are Concerned About Big Tech Censorship Are Censoring Other Texans

The Republican-led legislature passed a bill that prevents so-called deplatforming,

The legislature passed a bill banning how teachers can talk about current events and systemic racism in the classroom.

The bill banning CRT wasn’t the only one concerned with how Texas and its history are talked about.

And law creating the 1836 project does that

the 1836 Project promotes patriotic education about Texas,” ... only the good WHITE parts

Alonzo said it will likely gloss over the negative parts of the state’s complex history —

like the violent history of the Texas rangers at the border or

the racist legislation passing for years in the Texas legislature.

And forget the 100 years of Texas history that occurred before 1836.

it resembles some of the dictatorships that, you know, that we are familiar with in the recent past

where you have nation-states that only teach the history the way they want to teach it,”

Elected leaders have been aggressively trying to tamp down discussions about race in Texas history this past year,

hypocritical when he hears the governor talk about conservative voices being silenced.

“Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick oppressed my free speech when

they canceled the book talk we had scheduled at the Bullock Museum, just three hours before we were to take the stage,”

https://www.tpr.org/government-politics/2021-09-22/the-republicans-who-are-concerned-about-big-tech-censorship-are-censoring-other-texans

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KEN PAXTON’S NEWEST LAWSUIT AGAINST THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

over guidance about workplace protections based on sexual orientation or gender iden y.

Paxton’s lawsuit is challenging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for employment protections they issued last June.

The new guidance from EEOC against workplace discrimination or harassment for LGBTQ workers arrived after the

Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling last year which codified that the federal ban on discrimination based on sex includes transgender employees.

Paxton’s comments on Twitter about the lawsuit specifically refer to employee protections for the transgender community.

“States should be able to choose protection of privacy for their employers over subjective views of gender, and

this illegal guidance puts many women and children at risk.”

https://texassignal.com/ken-paxtons-...administration

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KEN PAXTON’S NEWEST LAWSUIT AGAINST THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

over guidance about workplace protections based on sexual orientation or gender iden y.

Paxton’s lawsuit is challenging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for employment protections they issued last June.

The new guidance from EEOC against workplace discrimination or harassment for LGBTQ workers arrived after the

Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling last year which codified that the federal ban on discrimination based on sex includes transgender employees.

Paxton’s comments on Twitter about the lawsuit specifically refer to employee protections for the transgender community.

“States should be able to choose protection of privacy for their employers over subjective views of gender, and

this illegal guidance puts many women and children at risk.”

https://texassignal.com/ken-paxtons-...administration

Anything to gum up the works of that mother er squattin' in the White House.

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Texas Republicans release proposal for new congressional boundaries that bolsters GOP districts Republicans have proposed new congressional boundaries that provide protection for North Texas in bents, but doesn’t give the fast-growing Dallas/Fort Worth area one of two new seats earmarked for the Lone Star State. Despite the remarkable population growth powered by minority residents in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, Texas Republican lawmakers opted to place the new districts in the Austin and Houston areas. The Austin-area seat would be favorable to a Democratic candidate, while the new Houston-area district is overwhelmingly Republican. Neither new seat would be in a minority opportunity district, even though the vast majority of the population growth in Texas was propelled by Hispanic residents. The proposed map is a clinic on in bency protection. -- Dallas Morning News "The s will not replace us!"

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Texas Republicans release proposal for new congressional boundaries that bolsters GOP districts Republicans have proposed new congressional boundaries that provide protection for North Texas in bents, but doesn’t give the fast-growing Dallas/Fort Worth area one of two new seats earmarked for the Lone Star State. Despite the remarkable population growth powered by minority residents in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, Texas Republican lawmakers opted to place the new districts in the Austin and Houston areas. The Austin-area seat would be favorable to a Democratic candidate, while the new Houston-area district is overwhelmingly Republican. Neither new seat would be in a minority opportunity district, even though the vast majority of the population growth in Texas was propelled by Hispanic residents. The proposed map is a clinic on in bency protection. -- Dallas Morning News "The s will not replace us!"

Excellent!!!

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hole TX racist bags ing Blacks and browns everywhere

The senselessness - and cruelty - of failing to expand Medicaid in Texas

In the decades before the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, about 15 percent of Americans were uninsured for the costs of health care.

Texas stood out, ranking an abysmal 48th in the nation.

About 25 percent of Texans — or 6.4 million of our neighbors — were uninsured in 2011,

The difference is an average of 15.5 percent uninsured in nonexpansion states such as Texas, and 8.3 percent in expansion states.

Texas has the most uninsured people of any state by a huge margin — currently 5.4 million.

https://www.expressnews.com/business...e-16494875.php

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Gov. Abbott flip-flops on illegal voting charge, calls for harsher penalties

Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday directed lawmakers to reverse a part of the massive voting restriction and reform package that he signed into law just three months ago that would have reduced penalties for illegal voting.

the little-noticed provision, which lowered the criminal offense for illegal voting from a second-degree felony to a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.

Abbott said in a statement.

“By increasing penalties for illegal voting,

we will send an even clearer message that

voter fraud will not be tolerated in Texas.” not tolerated? how about NON existent?

House Speaker Dade Phelan announced he did not support it.

https://www.expressnews.com/politics...e-16500577.php

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CRITICAL RACE THEORY PROMPTS CANCELLATION OF AUTHOR’S APPEARANCE AT KATY ISD



Earlier this week a small group of parents in a Texas school district successfully stopped a renowned children’s author from talking to students.

https://texassignal.com/critical-race-theory-prompts-cancellation-of-authors-appearance-at-katy-isd

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Abbott panders on immigration, violates due process


The great unifying sin of Gov. Greg Abbott’s tenure is that, of course, he knows better.

He knows it is blatantly uncons utional to arrest people and not provide representation or due process for weeks on end.

One doesn’t have to be an attorney to know and understand this,

but for a public official with Abbott’s legal pedigree,

the failure to honor due process is galling.

Operation Lone Star and creating a new legal system to detain immigrants on state trespassing charges,

Abbott has blatantly disregarded cons utional rights at the altar of political expedience found in anti-immigrant posturing.

all Texans should be concerned about Abbott’s jailing of immigrants because it is an assault on due process and civil liberties.

Hundreds of immigrants have been detained for weeks on trespassing charges without representation,

violating state law and overwhelming county justice systems,

all while undercutting federal due process.

Immigration is a federal issue.

At best, Abbott’s system is duplicative and costly. At worst, it is a violation of due process that plays to fears of migrants.

https://www.expressnews.com/opinion/...s-16513924.php