Category Archives: State news

State news

Texas AG goes to war with Austin

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton seems to suffer from a lawsuit fetish.

He has sued the city of Austin for having the temerity to refuse to comply with Gov. Greg Abbott’s lifting of a mask mandate. You see, it seems that Austin Mayor Steve Adler doesn’t want to lift the requirement in the city he governs.

Paxton, though, is wagging his proverbial finger at Adler and the city because he supposedly warned them against resisting Abbott’s order. So now he’s taking them to court again, Paxton said via Twitter.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Austin over mask mandate | The Texas Tribune

This clown we have for an AG is starting to annoy the daylights out of me. He tried to file a lawsuit that sought to block the certification of Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States, only to be rebuffed by the U.S. Supreme Court that said he lacked any standing to dictate how other states conducted their elections.

Now he’s at it again. Good grief, man.

The Texas Tribune reports: “[Travis County] Judge Brown and I will fight to defend and enforce our local health officials’ rules for as long as possible using all the power and tools available to us,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said Thursday in a statement. “We promised to be guided by the doctors, science and data as concerns the pandemic and we do everything we can to keep that promise.”

Meanwhile, the Texas AG will waste more money by filing lawsuits that seek to prevent local officials from doing what they deem is best for the people they take an oath to protect.

State news

Humanity = open borders? Hardly!

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has gone full-throated demagogue in his war of words with President Biden.

He accuses Biden of not caring about Americans because his immigration policies are a good bit more humane than those of his presidential predecessor, Donald John Trump.

That is a foolish assertion and Abbott ought to know better. Well, he does know better. It’s not in his political interest, apparently, for him to acknowledge it.

Abbott went to Mission today to announce a program called Operation Lone Star, which aims to ramp up arrests of undocumented immigrants seeking entry into the United States.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott slams President Joe Biden’s immigration policies | The Texas Tribune

What, precisely, did the Biden administration do to incur Abbott’s demagogic wrath? It has sought to enact a more “humane” policy, which has spurred an increase in immigrants trying to crash into the country. As the Texas Tribune reports:

The Biden administration has acknowledged that the increase in migrants coming to the border is, in part, a result of new policies intended to be more humane toward migrants and asylum seekers. That’s especially true of unaccompanied minors, said White House Press Secretary Jenn Psaki.

“Humanity will always be a value,” she said during a press briefing Tuesday. “What we’re really talking about in terms of the people who are being let in are unaccompanied children. That is a policy decision which we made because we felt it was the most humane approach to addressing what are very difficult circumstances in the region.”

Abbott said this, according to the Tribune: “He does not care about Americans. He cares more about people who are not from this country” said Abbott, who spoke in front of a wall of Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles parked near the banks of the Rio Grande in Mission.

Once again, Abbott is tossing out the “open borders” canard. The border isn’t “open,” governor. The presence of border security guards should tell everyone the truth about what is happening on our southern border.

State news

Death penalty for abortions? What the … ?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Suppose for a moment you’re a woman who’s just been attacked in your home by a man who rapes you.

You learn a bit later you’re pregnant. You are single, you might be unemployed. You live hand to mouth. You cannot possibly care for a child.

You consult with a doctor. You pray to God and ask for forgiveness. Then you obtain an abortion. Under a bill filed by state Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Royse City Republican serving in his first term in the Texas Legislature, you have just committed a capital offense; so has the doctor who terminated your pregnancy.

Under Slaton’s outrageous bill, this woman and her doctor could be prosecuted and, if convicted of murder, could be executed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Wow! I cannot fathom a more astonishing piece of legislation. Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, given the vise grip that the right-wing lunatic fringe has clamped on the Texas Republican Party.

Texans who get abortions could face death penalty if proposed bill passed | The Texas Tribune

This is where I must stipulate that the U.S. Supreme Court, the final arbiter of all things constitutional and legal, has ruled that women are entitled under the Constitution to terminate a pregnancy. Is it the preferable solution to any crisis a woman might be experiencing? No. It isn’t. However, it is a legal remedy.

Therefore, that is why I consider Rep. Slaton’s bill to be utter nonsense.

The Texas Tribune reports: “It is time for Texas to protect the natural right to life for the tiniest and most innocent Texans, and this bill does just that,” Slaton said. “It’s time Republicans make it clear that we actually think abortion is murder. … Unborn children are dying at a faster rate in Texas than COVID patients, but Texas isn’t taking the abortion crisis seriously.”

Now, that is rich, for Slaton to suggest that COVID patients are dying at a slower rate than unborn children. My goodness! The aim is to eliminate COVID deaths altogether. Isn’t that what we’re trying to do? And by all means, we should make abortion as rare as possible.

The Tribune also reports: The legislation, filed Tuesday by state Rep. Bryan Slaton, does not include exceptions for rape or incest. It does exempt ectopic pregnancies that seriously threaten the life of the woman “when a reasonable alternative to save the lives of both the mother and the unborn child is unavailable.”

This bill has been floated before. It has sunk in previous legislative sessions. The idea of sentencing a woman to death because she cannot — for whatever reason she deems important — carry a pregnancy to full term is outrageous on is face.

State news, Uncategorized

Welcome back, DST

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The grumbling has begun.

About what? Oh, the annual switch from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time. We’re going to make the change on Sunday, “springing forward” to DST just as we do every year. We “fall back” to Standard Time in the autumn of the year.

If only the complaining would stop.

I might be the only American around who has no particular problem with this time-change deal. It doesn’t bother me.

Folks gripe about it every year, right? They bitch about losing that hour of sleep at night. Then they moan that their bodies cannot adjust to the time change. Please, man.

If the Texas Legislature can get through its more important matters, such as finding solutions to our state’s power grid problem, perhaps it will try once again to decide how to repair this time-change thing … as if it needs repair.

The 2019 Legislature came within a whisker of putting a time-change issue on the ballot. It ran out of time. The thought was to let Texas voters decide (a) whether to go to Standard Time all year long, (b) go to Daylight Saving Time all year or (c) keep it as it is.

My choice, if I had been given the chance to vote, would be to switch to a year-long DST regimen. Why? I like the extended daylight in the evening. I cannot explain precisely why that is the case. It just is … you know?

Absent that choice, I generally do not complain out loud about the time change. I won’t do it this spring. I don’t plan on doing so when we switch back again in the fall to Standard Time.

local news, State news

Legislature’s storm response agenda takes shape

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

The 181 men and women who serve in the Texas Legislature are talking at least about how they intend to repair the state’s electrical infrastructure.

One hundred fifty of them serve in the House of Representatives; 31 serve in the Senate. I wish them all the best, not because I care about their political standing. I want them to take measures that keep our lights on and the heat flowing the next time our temperatures plunge to zero or below.

House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, has unveiled the House’s legislative agenda that deals with the infrastructure. It’s not long on specifics just yet, given that many of the measures haven’t been filed as legislative proposals.

One of them, House Bill 10, seeks to overhaul the structure of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, like requiring that all of ERCOT’s board members live in the state. You’ll recall what happened to us a month ago, with the state freezing and ERCOT decision makers living far away.

House Bill 11, according to the Texas Tribune, is a bit more complicated. The Tribune reports: Some other ideas could prove challenging. House Bill 11, for instance, would order the PUC to require power generators to implement measures to avoid service outages during extreme weather events, including winter storms and heat waves. But retroactively equipping power plants and the state’s energy system to withstand cold temperatures is likely to be difficult and costly, energy experts have said. Building energy infrastructure that from the start is designed to perform in winter conditions is easier and cheaper, they have said.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan lays out seven bills after power outage | The Texas Tribune

Ah, yes. Winterization could be “difficult and costly.” Do ya think?

I want the Legislature to do what it must do to avoid the near calamity that could have befallen our energy grid. ERCOT said it was just minutes away from the grid imploding on itself during the coldest portion of the winter storm.

Many communities throughout the state were left to deal with the power outages and the failure of water systems. It hasn’t been pretty. Princeton, where my wife and I live, managed to get through the mess and mayhem in fairly short order. But … we did not appreciate living in a frigid house even for the short period of time our city was dark.

The Legislature needs to spend no time considering, for instance, foolishness such as requiring the playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at public events. Not while we have valuable heating and cooling infrastructure that needs the state’s immediate attention.

State news

Why not ‘open up’ but keep masks on?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t likely to take this bit of advice, but I am going to offer it nonetheless.

Abbott has declared that Texas businesses will open “100 percent” even though Texans are still getting infected by the COVID virus. Hey, no problem, said the governor.

He also has rescinded the statewide mask mandate he ordered in early 2020, the one that asks Texans to wear masks when they venture into public places, such as grocery stores, sporting events, churches, libraries … you know, anywhere.

Here’s my advice: Why not go ahead with the business reopening but maintain the mask-wearing order?

I know it’s too late now for the governor to rethink this nutty notion. He’s going to plow ahead with it, even though he made the call without consulting with his medical team of advisers on the best wa to proceed — allegedly.

Abbott has said over the weekend that “Texans know what they need to do” to protect themselves from the virus and they don’t need the state to tell them. Oh, really? Then how does he explain earlier efforts to pull back from these restrictions resulting in infection rate, hospitalization and death rate spikes?

I’ll explain it here. It happened because too many Texans ignored the best advice of medical professionals that masks and social distancing are the best ways to prevent infection and potential death from the COVID virus.

Yeah, Texans know what to do. The question of the day is: Will we follow that advice and do what we must to prevent infection from this disease?

I am not at all confident that we can … or will.

State news

Beto in the hunt … again?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Democrats’ hearts are fluttering again, thanks to reports of Beto O’Rourke’s latest barnstorming tour of the state.

You see, O’Rourke — a former congressman from El Paso who came within whisker stubble of beating Ted Cruz in 2018 — might be running for Texas governor in 2022.

Except that he says he isn’t “thinking about it.” Sure, Beto … whatever you say.

Actually, my gut and my trick knee tell me he is thinking about it.

Is the state’s current governor, Republican Greg Abbott, vulnerable to a challenge from a credible Democrat? I think so. I hope so. I am not sure I expect a serious challenge to emerge from the tall grass, even if it happens to be Beto O’Rourke.

O’Rourke ran for president in 2020, but didn’t make the grade — quite obviously. His 2018 near miss against Sen. Cruz, though, still has whetted the appetites of Texas Democrats who believe that O’Rourke can mount a serious challenge against Abbott.

Beto O’Rourke is criss-crossing Texas again, igniting Democratic hopes he’ll run for governor – CNNPolitics

Abbott’s recent decision to rescind his mask-wearing order has angered me. I am quite certain it has angered other Texans, too.

Does that act alone make him vulnerable? Not really. Unless, we see a serious spike in COVID cases arising from Abbott’s foolhardy (in my view) decision to lift the order.

Beto O’Rourke might not have played well on the national stage, but here in Texas it might be another matter altogether.

Or … he might flame out once he starts “thinking about” running for governor.

State news

Saddened by Abbott’s posture

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Something has happened to the individual who was most recently elected as Texas governor. I refer to Greg Abbott, a Republican who is set to run for re-election in 2022 to his third term.

His behavior has disappointed me greatly. I now will explain why.

I have met Greg Abbott on numerous occasions. I was a journalist working at the Amarillo Globe-News in the Texas Panhandle. Abbott would visit the newspaper while he was running for election or re-election as a Texas Supreme Court justice and then as Texas attorney general.

I resigned from the newspaper in August 2012, so I did not know him while he ran for governor the first time in 2014.

The Greg Abbott that I got to know over the years did not display the kind of petulance I have been seeing in the man who became our state’s governor. He was gracious, a gentleman, a consummate professional. I knew him to be a man of good humor who delivered direct answers to direct questions, which is a trait I valued then as a journalist. He didn’t flimflam me with double-talk.

So I am now left to ask: What the hell has become of this guy?

His recent decision to rescind a mask-wearing order he issued as the state began battling the COVID virus brought a fairly harsh reaction from President Biden, who called it a form of “Neanderthal thinking.” Abbott’s response was to go on Fox News and say that Biden’s immigration policies have contributed to any surge in COVID virus cases along our southern border.

It took Abbott next to forever to even acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Perhaps I should have noticed this mean streak when Abbott served as Texas AG, as he was continually suing the Barack Obama administration over immigration matters and over implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

It has gotten worse, from my perspective, since he became governor.

To be candid, Gov. Abbott is sounding more like some right-wing crackpot than the reasonable, circumspect man I thought I knew when he held less-visible political offices.

 

local news, medical news, State news

Safety trumps personal liberty

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is getting plenty of push back from critics of his decision to rescind the mask-wearing order he issued when the COVID pandemic broke out.

Others, though, are backing the governor’s decision. I hear it on the news, that they are relishing the notion of exercising “personal liberty” in choosing to go without a mask when they enter public places.

OK. I want to make a critical point.

I am all in favor of personal liberty. As an American citizen, I cherish it as much as the next red-blooded patriot. However, personal liberty should not trump community health and well-being. That is my way of saying that the mask mandate — along with social distancing and other activities — protect us all from the spread of a virus that is killing Americans to this day.

I want to be free of being told to wear a mask. I want a return to being able to stand next to strangers in the grocery line, or sitting next to someone at the movie theater, or going to an entertainment event and being able to yell at the top of my lungs without fogging up my glasses because of the mask.

But … first things first. We have to grab the virus with a stronger grip than we have at this time. More of us are getting vaccinated daily. We are getting closer each day to that thing they call “herd immunity.” But we ain’t there yet.

So, spare me the “personal liberty” canard. I don’t buy it when your liberty puts my family and me in potentially mortal danger.

medical news, State news

Abbott taking deserved hits

(Bob Daemmrich/Pool Photo via AP)

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

This needs to be said.

President Biden overreacted by declaring that the governors of Texas and Mississippi were engaging in “Neanderthal thinking” when they lifted mask-wearing orders while seeking to return their states’ business community to full occupancy status.

Yes, we’re fighting a pandemic. We need to maintain those orders. I agree that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision was ill-considered and, yes, he was one of the “Neanderthals” to whom the president referred.

Still, I wish that President Biden wouldn’t have used that particular description.

However, I’ll endorse the president’s view that Abbott shouldn’t have done what he did. Abbott has pulled back from previous orders, only to watch the infection, hospitalization and death rates from the COVID virus spike in Texas.

I am going to pray hard that we don’t see yet another repeat of those prior mistakes.