Both Nasty and Dumb as a Rock

The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, mistakenly offered his condolences to Jimmy Carter’s dead wife shortly after the Democratic former president died on Sunday.

Abbott’s statement sent “prayers and deepest condolences” to former first lady Rosalynn Carter and the rest of her family shortly after her husband’s death at the age of 100, as the Dallas news station WFAA reported. But Rosalynn Carter had died more than a year earlier – on 19 November 2023, at age 96.

Dumb, yes. worthy of ridicule, hell, yes. But it's still the kindest thing which that malignant bag of putrid pus has done in many a year.

ETA: Per Rodney Balko:

To be fair, Rosalynn Carter wasn’t a brown baby killed in a nest of barbed wire Abbott installed at the border. And she wasn’t murdered by a right-wing creep Abbott could pardon in a gross celebration of political violence. So it’s not really fair to expect him to have noticed.

Bad Situations Make for Bad Laws

First, you should go read this piece on Lawfare about the need for domestic terrorism legislation.

I am against that. First off, I believe that there are enough ways to convict people who are committing crimes in furtherance of political goals.

Second, looking at this issue through the lens of both the January 6th Trumpist Coup Attempt and far-right terrorism yields a distorted result. Remember that, when people were protesting the Wars of the Chimperor, that the Department of Defense labelled the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker peace group, as a terrorist group. The long track record of police surveillance and government spying has shown that the security services of this country, from the local cops up through the Feds, have prioritized keeping tabs on antiwar groups while turning a near blind eye to the far-right. It was to the point that the last president regarded groups like the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and various neo-Nazis both as very fine people and as his base, while asking if it was possible to shoot protesters in the legs.

Anyone who doesn't believe that a politician like Trump, Abbott or DeSantis wouldn't weaponize the ability to designate groups as domestic terrorist organizations as a tool to crush opponents hasn't been paying attention. The idea of having domestic terrorism legislation is a horrible one.

Nothing Political About This, No Sirree

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday that he is seeking to pardon a U.S. Army sergeant who was convicted of murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of an armed protester during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice.

Abbott tweeted that because the state constitution limits him to a pardon only on a recommendation by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles he is asking the board to recommend a pardon and to expedite his request in order to pardon Sgt. Daniel Perry.
...
Perry’s attorneys argued that the shooting was self-defense as Foster approached Perry’s car with an AK-47 rifle. Prosecutors said Perry could have driven away before firing his revolver and witnesses testified that Foster never raised his rifle at Perry.

You can bet the farm that if the rally had been a MAGA event or a pro-2A demonstration that Abbott would be seeking to expedite the perp's date with Old Sparky.

Cruelty is the Point With the MAGA Fascists

While there is a decent argument to be made that it is a fair thing to send migrants to other cities, the plain fact of the matter is that the way that those two notorious human traffickers are doing it (DeSantis and Abbott) has nothing to do with helping desperate people. It has everything to do with using people as political props to score cheap points with their MAGA base.

Volunteer groups often wait hours for buses arriving from Texas in a designated space of Manhattan’s Port of Authority Bus Terminal. They rely on tipsters for help.

“It’s a problem because we don’t know when the buses are coming, how many buses are coming, if anyone on these buses has medical conditions that they will need help with, if they need a wheelchair,” said Manuel Castro, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “We at least want to know that so that we can best help people as they arrive.”

A contractor that Texas hired to bus migrants signed an agreement that prohibits them from talking to New York officials, Castro said.

Some fathers have arrived in New York while their spouses and children were sent to Washington, said Ilze Thielmann, a volunteer director with TLC NYC, a group working to reunite them.

Lying to people about where they are going and what awaits them when they get there. Deliberately separating families in the process. Doing the best they can to surprise receipient cities, so they have to scramble to help those who were tossed onto those beses and planes.

There is something seriously sick about the MAGA crowd, that they get off on how cruel those in power can be to those in need. You can bet your last dollar that if Abbot or DeSantis had them dragged off the buses, summarily shot and buried in unmarked graves outside of Terlingua, that the MAGA Morons would cheer them on.

There Are No New Racist Tricks, Only the Same Old Ones

The old racist trick:

The new racist tricks:

Florida Gov. [and notorious human trafficker/kidnapper] Ron DeSantis on Wednesday flew two planes of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, escalating a tactic by Republican governors to draw attention to what they consider to be the Biden administration’s failed border policies.

Flights to the upscale island enclave in Massachusetts were part of an effort to “transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations,” said Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ communications director.

And:

Two buses of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border were dropped off near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home in residential Washington on Thursday morning in the bitter political battle over the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
...
Abbott [the Coyote] tweeted that he’d sent the buses that arrived Thursday: “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border.”

The difference is that the racists of sixty years ago gave warning of what they were doing. The bigots of today are engaging in blindsiding people with their human pawns.

Dollars to doughnuts that those assholes think that they are good Christians and they go to church every Sunday. But they clearly stopper up their ears and close their eyes when it comes to practicing what is preached.

More Evidence That the GOP is the Anti-Humanity Party

The GOP might as well ditch that tired old elephant and adopt a burning cross as its symbol.

Exhibit 1:

Gov. Greg Abbott wants Texas to challenge a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires states to offer free public education to all children, including those of undocumented immigrants.

That ruling, known as Plyler v. Doe, struck down a Texas law that had denied state funding to educate children who had not been "legally admitted" to the United States.

Next up on the execution block: The requirement that all children, including disabled kids, receive a free and appropriate education. After that, Titl IX in sports will be targeted. Because girls don't need to play sports, they only need to know how to cook, clean, and sew.

The GOP is showing its true roots: White, Christian, native-born men need only apply. If they have their way, those will be the only people who can go to school past the fourth grade and the only ones who will hold jobs outside of domestic and agricultural work.

While I Was Paying Attention to Russian Fuckery, Texas Was Busily Being Texas

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.

The directive was part of a letter Abbott, a Republican, sent Tuesday to the Department of Family and Protective Services, calling on it to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of any reported instances of minors undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning.”

Abbott’s letter follows an opinion released Monday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which stated that allowing minors to receive transition care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery is child abuse under state law.

This is what so-called conservative politicians do: Interfere in the medical affairs of families in order to score cheap political points with their Christian Taliban base. Transgendered kids are their culture war target du jour. The Christian Taliban is like every other moralistic religious group (including the kiddie-fuckers in cassocks), they arrogate to themselves the right to decide what is right and wrong for you, for your family.

It's what they do. It's what they've always done. It's why, for many decades, it has been true that the best thing to see in Texas is the state line.

Funny Thing

When President Biden said the he was going to use OSHA to require large employers to have their workforces vaccinated, well, the Right had a frigging cow. "Infringing on the freedoms of private emplouyers", and shit like that there.

But are they having a similar hissy fit about Gov. Abbott (TX) interfering with private businesses by ordering employers not to mandate vaccines?

Signs point to "no".

"The Fact That You Would Say Such a Thing Just Goes to Prove That You Are the Leading Asshole in the State!"-- Abbott Ed.

When asked why the Texas All Hail the Cult of the Fetus law doesn't make an exemption for rape or incest, the fool sitting in the governor's chair had this to say:

"Let's make something very clear, rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets," Abbott stated. "So, goal number one in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape, so that no woman no person will be a victim of rape."

That is so mind-boggling stupid that one wonders how Abbott has managed to master the ability to make intelligible sounds with his mouth. First off, there is no pre-crime unit operating in Texas. For someone to be convicted of rape, they first have to, you know, rape somebody. Aggressively prosecuting the crime of murder hasn't made Texas a homicide-free state.

Second, anyone who even thinks that prosecuting and jailing rapists is a top priority in Texas, or anywhere else, has been doing some powerful drugs. I would be willing to wager that, just like most other states, there are untested rape kits sitting on the evidence shelves in Texas.

Third, the only time Southern states, like Texas, historically cared about rape was when the victim was white and the accused perpetrator was Black. Then they tended to lynch them and, if not, execute them, because the death penalty for rape was a product of the former Confederate states.

Women in Texas may wind up going to Mexico.

Breaking News: Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that making abortion a crime was unconstitutional, setting a landmark legal precedent for the conservative Catholic country. https://t.co/wCMsa65fxM

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 7, 2021

Seems People Don't Like Their Governors when They Suck at Their Jobs; Ron DeathSantis Ed.

Republican governors four states with surging coronavirus case numbers have seen their approval ratings sink in recent weeks, according to survey data obtained by Axios.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp all had disapproval ratings of 55 percent or higher in the survey taken between July 13 and July 19.

Ducey and DeSantis have the highest disapproval rating among the group, at 62 percent and 58 percent, respectively. All four governors are in the middle of their terms, which expire in 2022.

Sandy-Harvey

Without doing a smidgen of reading on the topic, I'm going to bet that the Texans in the Congress who voted against aid in the wake of Superstorm Sandy are now tying themselves into rhetorical knots in order to justify asking for Federal aid for Texas for Hurricane Harvey.

Also, with FEMA now all over southern Texas and likely being there for years to come, I'll bet that damn few of them are worried about a "Jade Helm"-style FEMA takeover. And yes, I'm looking at you, Governor Abbott, you fucking schmendrick.

Shorter Texas: "We'll Secede Next Year, Lord Willing and If the Creek Don't Rise."

Because the creek done riz this month!

President Obama:

I assured Governor Abbott that he could count on the help of the federal government. We have FEMA personnel already on the ground. They are coordinating with Texas Emergency Management authorities, and I will anticipate that there will be some significant requests made to Washington. My pledge to him is that we will expedite those requests to make sure that both search-and-rescue operations where necessary, but also recovery operations occur as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

The Teabagger states have no trouble with tin-cupping the Feds whenever they can. They hate themselves DasGov, until they have a need for those Federal greenbacks.

If your party's and your state's basic policy is "we hate Washington", then stop taking money from them.

They Grow Them Stupid in Texas.

Government by Tinfoil-Hat Wearers at the state level:

Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Guard to monitor federal military exercises in Texas after some citizens have lit up the Internet saying the maneuvers are actually the prelude to martial law.

What a fucking low-wattage light bulb. You'd think that Texas would have had to really work hard to have found a governor who was dimmer than Rick Perry, but by gum, they did it.

Chimpy to Perry to Abbott: Talk about a downward spiral. The next GOP governor in Texas will likely be so dumb that he'll only have to be put out in the sun and watered twice a week.