6/18/21 Texas to Allow People to Own and Carry Guns without Permit or Training

It's called "constitutional carry" by its advocates and idiocy by everyone else, but the Texas bill allows you, me, and Homer Simpson to buy guns without paying $40 for a permit OR getting any training whatsoever in how to use them. Training should be voluntary, according to the gun rights people.

This foolish law makes the state immeasurably more dangerous to those who live in it -- a fact that police officers have pointed out repeatedly, in Texas and other states.

Maybe people can stay safer by exchanging pandemic isolation with gun-fear isolation, shopping remotely and staying indoors. Still, your crazy neighbor can buy just about any assault rifle there is, and those suckers can send a bullet through the walls of an average house. Or so I hear.

Mercifully, Texans still won't be able to carry guns in schools, hospitals, and some other public places, and private businesses can ban gun carriers from coming into their establishments.

If you're still not sure that Texas is in the grip of rabidly right-wing politicians, the state also just passed a law that forbids pension funds and other state-run investors to put money into companies that want to find alternatives to fossil fuels.

Can you believe these jackasses?

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Gov-Abbott-signs-constitutional-carry-bill-16253153.php?fbclid=IwAR3AjwETzon7-UI8lHGeUU3kqutij0Z1lKDn7P21T3WHkCttzwlAAtDbCXI

6/17/21 Texas Nixes Teaching Bad Things About White History

Texas has a well-earned reputation for a certain spin in its history textbooks -- a boosterish, hero-worshipping, white-centered picture that promotes a politically conservative point of view.

In one text I read, for example, a box explained that if only Russia's serfs had held out a little longer, the Tsar's peasant reforms would've taken shape, and the people would be better off now than they became after the Revolution.

The state has some odd little rules too, such as an instruction to teachers not to say things that make capitalism look bad. Ladies and gents, I s**t you not.

On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott signed in a whole 'nother passel of teacher-muzzling restrictions in response to the 1619 Project. Concisely, teachers are now forbidden to discuss the social implications of race.

The bill says that social studies (read: history) teachers in public schools “may not be compelled” to talk about controversial historical, social, or policy issues. If they do, they have to explain the issue “without giving deference to any one perspective.”

The wording, as one teacher-turned-lawmaker put it, is "clever": “You can talk about race in the classroom, but you can’t talk about privilege ... the idea is to put in landmines so any conversation about race in the classroom would be impossible.”

The law should get a gold star in the Annals of Unenforceable Laws. While virtually every Republican in the statehouse voted yea, the law's purpose above all seems to be turning the attention of furious parents away from complaining to lawmakers and turning it instead to complaining about teachers if they don't like what a teacher says in the classroom.

The law will probably put a damper on the more outspoken teachers. Fact is, a lot of Texas teachers were themselves Texas public school students, so it's hard to say how many are fully versed in the nuances of the 1619 project. It's pretty clear, though, that most teachers are taking the law as a challenge they'll beat. Because -- really.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-republicans-ban-teachers-racism_n_60b18524e4b06da8bd76bf50?fbclid=IwAR2ts4xqoJVjfBmSB8UBYQS5nyJWk55Tu7zNuKjtVCx1EdwxGKoM-heGNVc

6/18/21 Rep. Clyde Meets a 1/6 Defender in a Capitol Elevator

Congress has awarded its Congressional Gold Medal to those who defended the Capitol on January 6. There will be three group medals, one for the Capitol police, one for the District of Columbia police, and one for other groups who played a part in the Capitol's defense.

The House vote was not unanimous: 21 Republican legislators voted No. One of them was Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.). He was the one who claimed that "If you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit."

Michael Fanone, a DC police officer, was not in a hallway where the invaders stayed between velvet ropes; he was getting a life-threatening beating outside the Capitol entrance. He was also in the Capitol building on the day after the medal vote, and he found himself in an elevator with Representative Clyde. He told the story to Don Lemon, a CNN newsman, on "Don Lemon Tonight."

"I was very cordial," Fanone said. "I extended my hand to shake his hand. He just stared at me. I asked if he was going to shake my hand, and he told me that he didn't who know I was.

"So I introduced myself. I said that I was Officer Michael Fanone. That I was a DC Metropolitan Police officer who fought on January 6 to defend the Capitol and, as a result, I suffered a traumatic brain injury as well as a heart attack after having been tased numerous times at the base of my skull, as well as being severely beaten," Fanone said. "At that point, the congressman turned away from me."

Fanone said that when the elevator door opened, Clyde "ran...like a coward."

Is anyone surprised?

While we're on the subject, here's a quote from David Gosar, a brother of Rep. Paul Gosar, another Republican who voted Nay: "I'd like to thank Officer Fanone ... and the other Capitol Hill police officers for their bravery and heroism on that day....And on behalf of the actual sane members of our family, which is everyone but Paul, we apologize ... for his despicable comments and disgraceful conduct through this whole incident." That's from Politico, "GOP hands Dems a new line of attack," 6/17/21.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/16/politics/michael-fanone-us-capitol-insurrection-cnntv/index.html?fbclid=IwAR14vezGJwxaeb8pcK_iuQvzwYAHFr9alqNBYz-zUDqFV6J9DJf1lll3e-0

6/18/21 "Curses! Foiled Again!" Says GOP, as SCOTUS Upholds Obamacare for the Third Time

The enemies of the Affordable Care Act -- that legislation that provides access to health insurance to all U.S. citizens and legal resident -- have once again lost a legal battle in the Supreme Court. This time, the Court dismissed the carefully groomed case because the plaintiffs had no skin in the game.

"We conclude that the plaintiffs in this suit failed to show a concrete, particularized injury fairly traceable to the defendants' conduct in enforcing the specific statutory provision they attack as unconstitutional," wrote Stephen Breyer in his opinion for the majority. "They have failed to show that they have standing to attack as unconstitutional the Act's minimum essential coverage provision." Justices Alito and Gorsuch dissented.

So now, presumably, the GOP's misanthropes in the various states that brought the lawsuit are “standing” around with cocktails saying, "Standing? We don't have standing?! As if the very nation is not harmed by Obamacare. Why, the very principles on which this nation stands...!" Or maybe they're more interesting in real life.

In any case, they'll have to be pretty creative to come up with another SCOTUS-worthy argument. The first lawsuit brought by the anti-ACA crowd was a bid to have the "individual coverage mandate" declared unconstitutional. That mandate levied a tax penalty on any American who didn't buy health insurance. The Supreme Court let the mandate stand.

Then the GOP-led Senate slashed the actual tax penalty to 0%, and a second lawsuit went up the legal ladder, arguing that if there was no tax, there was no legal reason for the mandate. This time the Supreme Court agreed that the mandate was unconstitutional, but said that the lack of the mandate was no reason to strike down the whole dang law.

Obamacare lived to fight another day. That fight, of course, led to the decision released Thursday.

Now, with three opinions from SCOTUS, the law that 31 million Americans rely on for their health insurance is looking pretty solid. Let's hope it stays that way!

Do you think that Obamacare is just as good as Medicare for All? Should the subsidies be higher? Should the insurance be free?

Can you think of any other way that right-wing thinkers could fight the law? Do you think the conservatives on the Court are surprising the conservatives who appointed them?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/politics/supreme-court-affordable-care-act-obamacare/index.html?fbclid=IwAR06jqnjvYf-HD7AKZKazoErNMaKokyeAl3bOYx6ARvg99GVz_AF5bxPZ4s

6/17/21 Notorious Baker Fined $500 for Refusing to Make Gender-Transition Cake

On Wednesday, Denver District Court Judge Bruce Jones added another layer to the saga of cake discrimination by Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker. The judge ordered his bakery to pay $500 in restitution to Autumn Scardina, a would-be customer, for violating Colorado's anti-discrimination laws; Phillips refused to bake Scardina a pink-with-blue-icing gender-transition celebration cake.

You may remember the Masterpiece Cake Shop, Phillips's shop, from a previous incident in which he refused to make a cake celebrating a gay wedding. That was in 2012. The following lawsuit made lots of headlines, and eventually, the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Phillips's right to free speech had been violated. He went back to his bakery. There's no word on the status of the happy couple.

Well, hold on to your butter, because five years later, but still a year before the Supreme Court ruling, Scardina asked Masterpiece Cake Shop to make her gender-transition cake. Again, Jack Phillips, co-owner, refused. Scardina sued under state civil rights laws, and Phillips counter-sued the state, but after the Supreme Court ruling, the state and the baker agreed to drop the matter.

Then along came 2019 and a second suit from Scardina, who used different state laws from the first suit. Long story shorter, Phillips was back in hot water, with Scardina was determined to put the icing on her fight against discrimination. Phillips is appealing the case.

Let's hope they cook up a solution before the whole issue goes stale -- again.

What is the deal with this baker? Why can’t he just bake the cakes his customers order and just stop being so nosy? Someone wanted a pink cake with blue icing. Big deal. Did he really have to ask what the occasion was, so he could decide to judge it? Or did Scardina really have to go to this one baker who was already being sued?

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/558849-court-fines-baker-500-for-refusing-to-make-gender-transition-cake?fbclid=IwAR3vbYW7qg-hcr5Z925R5t7DtdnO_XXqmXBr4gRouWMf5oxyJmIVcRZKLqc

6/15/21: Texas's Grid Is About to Go Up in Smoke -- Again!

Texas Governor Gregg Abbott saw fit last week to declare the Texas power grid "fixed."

It's true -- as long as "fixed" doesn't mean "repaired." The grid was fixed (meaning “had predetermined results”) from the start, when Texas decided to go solo with its energy grid rather than hooking up to the national grid -- that way, the state wouldn't have to keep up with pesky standards and public accountability.

In saying what he did, the governor played up to the far-right crackpots who insist on making Texas what it is today, a one-liner with hella-hot weather.

One could charitably question whether Abbott knew about the numerous and ongoing repairs that are not under a central authority, repairs that have now prompted the ordinarily silent ERCOT -- the Electronic Reliability Council of Texas (don't laugh!) -- to say "Please, people, turn down your air conditioners this weekend!"

About 11,000 megawatts' worth of generators is under repair, ERCOT says. In 2018, demand spiked at 69,123 megawatts. On Monday, demand is supposed to top 73,000 megawatts, and all the while, those generator operators are going to be out there in their overalls with wrenches sticking out of every pocket and a bandanna to wipe the sweat off their brows. Why not? Nobody's watching.

No, in answer to your question, I have no idea how generators run. I just have an idea of how Texas runs, and I picture those mechanics kicking the side of a metal building to see if it's working now, only to see a rising puff of black smoke. Seen too many movies, I guess.

“We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service,” says Woody Rickerson, vice president of ERCOT’s grid planning and operations. “This is unusual for this early in the summer season.”

At least most of the cars in Texas have air conditioning. This could be the weekend that the state finally gets on the road. Unlike the winter freeze, there won't be veterans desperately trying to run portable oxygen tanks off car batteries because the roads are too icy to drive to a hospital. That happened in Houston this year. The guy didn't make it.

If stuff like that doesn't make you want to roar with rage like a gorilla, you might be a Texas Republican.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texans-conserve-energy-power-grid-struggles_n_60c7c8b1e4b0e25921b6ccdd?fbclid=IwAR3qdZ6DDebqgucwZKFnX4y7vwEiheOsgrjQi43J_eAzS9hi78EeV_u0KRc

6/16/21 Juneteenth is Finally Becoming a Federal Holiday!

Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the news, traveling slowly, finally reached the island of Galveston in southern Texas. On that day, June 19th, 1865, Union Major-General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 there in public:

"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor...."

Texas has been celebrating "June teenth" ever since, pausing only for World War II. Think "Fourth of July," and you have the idea. Subsequently, Black groups bought land for parks to celebrate -- Houston's and Austin's Emancipation Parks and Booker T. Washington Park in Mexia.

Juneteenth ("Emancipation Day") has been a state holiday in Texas since 1980 -- and is a holiday in a few other states.

Now, however, the U.S. Senate has unanimously voted to make June 19th a federal holiday, one of eleven on the annual calendar. (Only federal employees have the day off so far.) As soon as the House votes Yea and President Biden signs the bill, it'll be official.

It's about time!

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/senate-passes-juneteenth-national-holiday_n_60c915dde4b09ba204a9d24b?fbclid=IwAR01GgEZNOGHtkNkGMnGs2YgvvcwK7Ul12oTHCrx-0bexHBIhRQLuVknAIk