"Texas Republican" the new "Florida Man"

Photo by Steh Nobre: https://www.pexels.com/

An article by Brad Press in the Hill begins with the headline, “Texas GOP adopts anti-LGBTQ platform, refers to being gay as ‘abnormal’” As always, Texas Republicans seem suspiciously obsessed with how other people express their sexuality. I’ve already had one of those Texas Republicans tell me that, when Trump returns to the White House, “those people” will be isolated from honest hard-working Americans, along with “evolutionists,” atheists, and abortionists. He did not specify what form that isolation would take, but judging by the tone of his comments, it would not surprise me if he meant concentration camps complete with ovens.

Read the full story at: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3529268-texas-gop-party-adopts-anti-lgbtq-platform-refers-to-being-gay-as-abnormal/

The Texas Taliban, Chapter One

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

I live in a country where people try to make the abortion rate go down by making it harder for women to get birth control. --John Fugelsang

 I'm seeing online comments about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan as a defeat for American power and an indicator of the decline of the West. American Women feel that defeat and decline all the way to Texas where an American Taliban, based on a faulty reading of Christian scripture, And an extremist ideology in power in the legislature, passed a law that makes illegal the termination of unwanted pregnancies. Combining fascism with Stalinism, The American Republican Party has extended a bonus to the batshit crazy element of American society by promising fortunes to any who inform on those who aid and abet in an abortion or discuss the planning of an abortion or offer assistance such as a ride to an abortion facility, or. . ., well, you get the idea. Christians, Muslims, conservatives, and control freaks everywhere, Rejoice! Our fear of feminine sexuality has won the day. Now, if we can just do something about uppity women in superior positions in employment we can truly say that, at last, culture based on religious extremism is within our grasp. Institutionalized misogyny is within our grasp. Praise Jesus!

Texas as Third World Province

 

Photo by visuals on Unsplash

Texas as Third World Province

According to a USA Today report dated today, June 25, 2021, a train of vehicles referred to as a "Trump Train" attempted to harass and intimidate a Biden-Harris Bus and accompanying vehicle. That, in itself, is not a serious crime but more a tale of intellectually stunted Texas rednecks. However, the Trump cultists are said to have attempted to run the bus off the road. To what end? To haul the survivors out for physical punishment? To express their support for democracy and fair elections?

To many political moderates, actions such as this sometimes look like the decline of democracy and of American influence in the world.

My first reaction to the story was embarrassment--in my state and too many of my fellow Texans. These Trump cultists appear to have no shame. Let the embarrassment their action aroused in mature Texans be their shame.

Abbott Hates Dogs

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#AbbottHatesDogs

A wise person once advised me to "Never trust anyone who is not kind to animals."

In the years since I have learned that my advisor's insight into human behavior was spot-on. I have, to date, not once met a trustworthy person who was not kind to animals. By kind, I mean those who treat pets with respect and those who support protections for animals in the wild.

Greg Abbott is one of the Untrustworthy. The Texas Governor recently vetoed bipartisan "Senate Bill 474, known as the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, which would have prohibited the use of heavy chains to restrain dogs, mandated that animal-control and rescue groups scan pets for microchips, and given tax breaks to pet-rescue organizations."*

The bill called for the regulation of collar size, heavy chains, and the availability of food and water. Abbott called referred to the bill as "micromanaging" and "over-criminalizing." 

It is not micromanaging when existing animal protections are "vague and unenforceable,"* and isn't it no more over-criminalizing than those misdemeanor punishments that regulate pedestrian traffic and safe driving.

I grew up in an environment in which the old agrarian way of life was being fazed out in favor of industrial jobs in a nearby city. Old ways die hard, and the former farmers, seeing their woodlands scraped to make way for a booming population and suburban development, continued to keep hunting dogs in cages even when their weekday jobs left them too exhausted for hunting trips to hunting destinations that receded with each new birth and suburban development. Those dogs were often ignored for days. Their masters filled their food and water containers hurridly and absent-mindedly. They were sheltered by plywood doghouses and tethered to them to keep them from climbing over or digging under their prisons. Only neighborhood children gave the animals attention. A law like Texas Senate Bill 474 in those days would have been a blessing to those dogs, who suffered not from cruelty, but from the unkind lack of respect that pets crave.

* "Texas Gov. Abbott vetoed a state animal-cruelty bill, saying the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act was 'micro-managing"  https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-gov-abbott-vetoed-bill-expanding-animal-cruelty-law-2021-6