she's so......heavvvvvvvvy

One more long post, should probably be split in two, this one about more republican political malfeasance and outright lawlessness, and then I swear I'll lighten up for a while.

Once again our governor Greg Abbott is showing us that he hates democracy and that republicans are willing to lie, cheat, and steal to remain in absolute power. Out of 254 counties, the Texas legislature has passed a bill enabling the secretary of state to re-do the results of an election in the state's largest county only, Harris, which includes the fourth largest city in the nation, the city of Houston and which votes overwhelmingly democrat. Harris County has sued to prevent the new law from taking effect September 1^st.

Abbott's cruelty knows no bounds with his deployment of razor wire along the banks and under the water of the Rio Grande with a line of floating spiked buoys with netting underneath down the middle of the river violating federal law and international treaties instructing the National Guard and the Department of Public Safety deployments to push people back in the river including children and refuse them water, orders so inhumane that it caused at least one trouper-medic to complain to his superior listing the injuries and deaths he observed...a four year old passed out from the heat pushed with her group back into the river, a man with a severe laceration after trying to rescue his child caught on razor wire on a buoy, a young woman caught in the razor wire having a miscarriage, a 15 year old with a broken leg suffered while trying to cross, and much more. His reason? The hordes of brown people crossing illegally which is the bald faced lie republicans won't let go of because it riles up their base. Biden's border patrol and policies are doing their job, illegal crossings are down 70 some odd percent, Mexico is engaged in protecting the border, drugs seizures have increased. When informed by the DOJ that Abbott was facing a lawsuit if he did not remove the razor wire and spiked buoys, his response was 'see you in court', claiming he has 'sovereign authority'. Let that sink in, 'sovereign authority'. He is not king, he is not president, Texas is not a republic; it is one state of many in this nation. He has no sovereign authority and no right to ignore federal law. The DOJ has filed suit but what Biden should do is just send in the Army Corps of Engineers and start dismantling it all.

I've already reported that Abbott has tried to have parents of trans kids investigated for child abuse and now the Florida republican legislature passed a bill, sending it to DeSantis to sign, that legalizes taking trans children away from their parents.

Florida governor DeSantis has recently created a State Guard whose purpose, when announced, was to help with disaster relief efforts but is being trained as an armed combat ready militia under boot camp conditions in camo uniforms under his personal command. It's initial maximum size went from 400 to 1500 and it's being financed by Florida taxpayers with a $107M budget approved by the state legislature. DeSantis wants to acquire helicopters, boats, cell phone hacking technology, and the power of arrest for this force outside of federal jurisdiction. Veterans who initially joined either quit or were physically removed after expressing concern about the training. DeSantis is training his own private little army.

Florida's State Board of Education's new standard for teaching about slavery is that slavery was beneficial to slaves because it taught them valuable skills which could be applied for their personal benefit when the opposite is true, that the “history of cattle farming, river navigation, rice and indigo cultivation, southern architecture, music, and so on in this country depended on the skills and traditions of African people” (from Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter). Pretty soon they'll be teaching that slaves came here voluntarily and begged white landowners to buy them. The new curricula doesn't stop there, it pretty much white washes everything about slavery, emancipation, reconstruction, and the hard won civil rights for blacks and women, all bestowed by benevolent white men according to the new standard. HCR's newsletter goes into great detail about Florida's new curricula and I recommend reading it. 

Alabama is trying to pass a law that criminalizes miscarry and stillbirth, automatically triggering homicide investigations of the women to see if they purposely put themselves in a situation that could result in a miscarriage. That could even be a situation where the woman has an abusive spouse and doesn't leave because of circumstances like having nowhere to go.

Other republican attorneys general are petitioning out of state hospitals and doctors for the health records of trans people which ordinarily would be a HIPPA violation but is allowed if they are requested as evidence in ongoing investigations. Regardless, this is just one more attack on the privacy and rights of the trans community.

Also in Alabama, the Supreme Court confirmed they were violating the Voting Rights Act and were ordered to redraw their congressional districts to include two black majority districts. July 21 they openly violated the Supreme Court order and passed a new map which did not include two black majority districts and which the governor signed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines (as in democrats voted for, republicans voted against) on a bill that would require the Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics in line with every other federal judge after revelations that several of the justices have received unreported money, gifts, vacations, homes, private school tuition from mega donors with suits before the court and which these justices voted in favor of. Why do republicans object to the Supreme Court having a code of ethics?

In a blatant act of lawlessness Marjorie Taylor Greene displayed poster sized photos of Hunter Biden's dick pics on the floor of the House, claiming they were proof he was making pornography. She was neither called out, censured, nor removed from committees. It is literally against the law for someone to show or publish private nude photos of someone without their consent, especially when they have been obtained illegally as these were done. Then she sent them to everyone on her email list.

Angry that their cult leader Trump is finally being indicted for his criminal behavior, republican Jim Jordan of the House Judiciary Committee wrote to the chair of the Committee of Appropriations to defund the FBI which investigates crime. So much for the party of law and order. Apparently they believe that the law is for us and not for them.

All of the above are horrendous acts of cruelty or attacks on our civil rights and our democracy or outright acts of lawlessness but it's nothing compared to what republicans plan if they take the presidency and the Senate and keep the House. Trump loyalists have been very vocal about their plan to consolidate power in the presidency under Trump and not just Trump but any republican president. They have told us out loud they intend to remove the independence of various agencies putting them under the direct control of the president, they intend to defund the IRS so that their rich donors can continue to get away with not paying taxes, they intend to defund the FBI and the DOJ and put loyalists in charge that will investigate and prosecute Trump's opponents in retaliation for their opposition, they intend to do away with the protections afforded the Civil Service that prevents them from being fired for political reasons, they intend to do away with Social Security and Medicare, starting with putting restrictions of those working Americans who are paying in but not receiving benefits yet, voter suppression tactics will continue unabated to insure that once back in power they will stay in power, they intend to make abortion illegal nationally. This is a short list which adds up to ditching the constitution and turning our democracy with its balance of powers, into an authoritarian regime. The New York times, the Washington Post, and MSNBC have written about these well known plans.

Do not get complacent! This upcoming presidential and congressional election is even more important than the last one. Our democracy and our civil rights hang in the balance as well as the separation of church and state and any hope of combating climate change which is essential for continued human survival.