Tag Archives: Greg Abbott

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

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.

media news

Weird free-speech fight?

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By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

Maybe it’s just me, but I believe a Texas Senate bill that takes aim at social media platforms is really bizarre, weird and goofy defense of the First Amendment.

Senate Bill 12 seeks to ban social media companies — such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — from blocking points of view expressed by those that come from within the Texas borders.

Which makes me wonder … huh?

Gov. Greg Abbott has endorsed the bill, saying that social media companies led by West Coast billionaires are taking unfair aim at conservative thoughts and thinkers.

The Texas Tribune reports: “They are controlling the flow of information — and sometimes denying the flow of information,” the Republican governor said at a press conference in Tyler. “And they are being in the position where they’re choosing which viewpoints are going to be allowed to be presented. Texas is taking a stand against big tech political censorship. We’re not going to allow it in the Lone Star State.”

Gov. Greg Abbott touts bill to stop Twitter, Facebook from banning Texans | The Texas Tribune

What gives this legislation its weird quality is that it seeks to protect conservative thoughts that come from this state. I am trying to figure out how you control or patrol the airwaves to limit thoughts that originate from a particular state. How does it affect conservatives who happen to live, say, in California, or New York, or New England?

I don’t get this one. Not at all.

Someone has to explain to me the selective enforcement aspect of this goofy legislation.

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.

Uncategorized

What about small towns?

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

A headline in the Texas Tribune speaks loudly about some mayors’ response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to pull back his mask-wearing mandate.

It said: Texas’ largest cities will keep requiring masks in municipal buildings even after statewide mandate ends

I have no problem with what those mayors are doing, saying and how they are reacting to what I believe is a premature decision by Gov. Abbott.

My question is this: What are small-town and smaller-city mayors doing? Are they going to have the same reaction?

I live in a small town. Princeton, Texas, is home to about 13,000 residents, give or take a few hundred. We are perched along U.S. Highway 380 between McKinney to the west (population 200,000) and Farmersville to the east (population 5,000). I am acquainted with the mayors of Princeton and Farmersville. My strongest hope is that they, too, will invoke mask mandates in municipally owned buildings.

The Texas Tribune reports: Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso’s leaders announced Wednesday and Thursday that masks will be required to enter city-owned indoor spaces like libraries, police and fire department headquarters, convention centers and transportation hubs.

“I am going to issue an order mandating masks at all city-owned buildings. We have to do what we are legally allowed to do to get people to wear masks,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said on Twitter Thursday morning. “We also still need to practice social distancing. And we still need to avoid taking unnecessary risks. The pandemic is not over.”

Texas’ largest cities will require masks in municipal buildings | The Texas Tribune

No. It is not over. It is not yet close to being over. I will acknowledge, though, that the arrival of a third vaccine — from Johnson & Johnson — means that the end of this horror might be approaching.

Given that our smaller communities don’t get the kind of media attention that the big cities get, I want there to be a significant push by those city halls to get the word out immediately to their constituents. They need to let them know through any means necessary.

Of course, this strategy should apply to small cities and towns all across our vast state. Gov. Abbott can declare, I suppose, that state-owned buildings need not carry “Mask Required” signs. A state governed by politicians who adhere to the “local control is best” mantra should have no trouble allowing city halls to set their own rules regarding the best way to battle the COVID virus.

Let us not forget that President Biden has ordered masks and social distancing in all federal buildings at least for the first 100 days of his administration. My gut tells me he likely will extend that mandate well beyond that artificial deadline.

I will await word from my mayor, Brianna Chacon, on what she intends to do. I hope she stays the mask-wearing course.

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.

medical news, State news

Abbott stiffs the docs

By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

So … Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pledged a year ago to let “science” dictate his decisions regarding the strategy he would employ to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that, right? Yes. He did.

So, now we hear from the Texas Tribune that Gov. Abbott did not discuss a plan to lift the statewide mask mandate with three of his four chief medical advisers. The fourth one, according to the Tribune, cannot say whether the decision is safe, prudent or premature.

This reporting troubles me greatly. It suggests to me that the governor is driven by a Donald Trump-like reliance on personal hunches and not on the dispassionate medical/scientific advice he is getting from the professionals with whom he has surrounded himself.

Greg Abbott didn’t consult 3 of his 4 medical advisers on lifting mask order | The Texas Tribune

One of Abbott’s medical advisers said this, according to the Tribune: “I don’t think this is the right time,” Dr. Mark McClellan, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University, said in a statement. “Texas has been making some real progress, but it’s too soon for full reopening and to stop masking around others.”

What do you think about that? Does that sound to you that the governor is relying on science, that he is being faithful to the pledge he made when the pandemic was tightening its grip on Texas’s population? It doesn’t sound like it to me.

We have suffered more than 42,000 COVID-related deaths in Texas alone. Yes, the statewide death and hospitalization rates are declining. We all are cheering the arrival of the vaccines — from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. We are heartened to hear President Biden pledge that all adult Americans who want to be vaccinated will have the drugs available to them by May.

Now, though, we hear that our governor has stiffed the medical team he brought on board to give him solid, science-based advice on how he should respond to the virus.

Are you troubled by this? If not, you should be.

Take this piece of advice from a laymen: Mask up, Texas.