Tag Archives: Greg Abbott

legal news, local news, medical news, State news

She’s no hero; she is a lawbreaker

Shelley Luther is being hailed as a heroic figure, someone who is standing up to what many contend is a form of governmental tyranny.

I consider her to be a lawbreaker, someone who flouted a legally mandated directive to keep her business closed to save lives against a killer virus that has swept across the world in the coronavirus pandemic.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered salons closed. Luther’s business, Salon La Mode in Dallas, remained opened. She was doing customers’ nails and performing other cosmetic procedures even though she was putting herself and, more importantly, her customers at risk of catching COVID-19.

As the Texas Tribune reported: Luther knew she was operating in blatant defiance of emergency orders from the state and county. She had already torn up a cease-and-desist letter from local authorities, winning loud cheers onstage at an Open Texas rally in Frisco.

Ridiculous.

Here’s my favorite part. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Houston decided to get his hair cut at Luther’s salon … in Dallas. The Cruz Missile, who backs Donald Trump’s rush to return reopen the economy that has collapsed in the wake of the pandemic, thought he’d score some cheap political points by standing with Shelley Luther.

Cruz should be ashamed of himself, except that he isn’t.

As for Luther, she had been sent to jail for violating the stay-closed order. Top Texas Republicans sought to work for her release. So she got sprung from the hoosegow. She came out to a hero’s welcome.

Now this business owner is being hailed as a sort of cultural icon because she’s standing her ground against what she believes is government overreach.

She is standing instead for the fruitcakes who have stormed the Michigan state capitol building brandishing assault rifles and waving swastikas and Confederate battle flags; she is standing for other protesters around the nation who flock to beaches and ignore social distancing recommendations.

It’s people like Shelley Luther who make enforcing mandates aimed at protecting our health — and even our lives — more difficult than they need be.

State news

Time to re-impose restrictions in Texas?

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What the hell?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a reopening strategy for Texas business in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. What, then, is one of the results? A spike in COVID-19 infection throughout the state!

Texas beaches have reopened. Texas business has restarted, with limited capacity mandated by the governor. People are getting haircuts and getting their manicures, pedicures and other cosmetic enhancements.

Texans also are getting more exposed to the viral infection at an alarmingly increasing rate.

A lot of us have expressed concern about this decision to reopen the state. I had some hope that Abbott would make good on his pledge to rely on “data and the doctors” to make decisions relating to this reopening matter. Maybe he has, but the data and the docs might have misjudged the result.

As ABC News reports, the Texas infection spike hasn’t resulted in a total that rivals what has happened in New York, but clearly the infection rate has not yet “flattened out.”

This makes me ask: Should the governor re-impose the restrictions he put out when the pandemic took root in Texas and around the world?

Whatever he decides, know this: Yours truly isn’t changing a thing. We are going to keep sheltering in place.

You also may take this to the bank … if you dare venture out: This trend makes a mockery of Donald Trump’s assertion that we’ve turned the corner on the pandemic.

The disease is still winning this war against humanity.

medical news

It’s official: I will ignore the return to ‘business as usual’

I am in dire need of a haircut. I miss cutting into a medium-rare steak at a nice restaurant. I want to return to the gym and to my daily workout regimen.

All of that is going to wait for the foreseeable future, no matter what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declares as he seeks to reopen the state for business.

He said hair salons are back in business. Gyms will reopen in a few days. Restaurants have been open for a few days now, although the governor ordered ’em to operate at 25 percent of capacity.

Fine. Go for it, y’all. I am staying away. I do not like seeing the news about infection and death rates continuing to climb in Texas, and in North Texas, where I live along with some members of my family. The picture isn’t any prettier in the Panhandle, where the rest of my family and many of our friends reside.

I haven’t checked in on the Golden Triangle, where my wife and I still have many dear friends.

From what I have read, polling suggests most Texans and other Americans believe as I do, that governors are acting too hastily to reopen their states. They are putting too much emphasis on the economy and not enough of it on the health of the people they represent.

Gov. Abbott has moved too quickly to suit my sensibilities. I am glad he had the good sense to close Texas public school classrooms for the rest of the academic year.

And what in the world is going on with our Texas public universities? They want to return to in-person classwork this fall. I’m OK with that … but Texas A&M, the University of Texas and Texas Tech University systems plan to play football. Are they going to play those games in empty stadiums? Yeah … good luck with that.

You may count me as one Texas resident who wants to see a substantial and recurring decline in the infection and death rates before I make my return to what we used to think of as “normal.”

Hey, maybe I can make a fashionably late entrance.

For now? I am out.

State news

Beachgoers tempt fate

You are looking at a beachful of goobers who ought to know better than to do what they are doing.

They are congregating along the Texas coast, apparently heeding Gov. Greg Abbott’s declaration that it’s OK to venture to the beach without regard to the restrictions he had imposed on Texans since early April.

You can count me out. What in the world is going on here?

Planet Earth is still in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic. It has killed hundreds of thousands of people and nearly 70,000 Americans. Yet some states, such as Texas, are being run by governors who seem to think it’s OK to reopen their economies that had been shut down by the pandemic.

Abbott said he would let “doctors and data” determine how to loosen the restrictions. Did he really have this in mind? If he didn’t, then the goobers on the beach need to know better. If he did, these numbskulls still should pay attention.

Many governors are proclaiming that social distancing is having a profoundly positive effect on the infection and death rates by the COVID-19 virus. I don’t see a whole lot of social distancing in the picture I have attached to this blog post. What I do see is a crowd of nitwits who are endangering themselves or worse, endangering others.

What I wish would happen is that Abbott reimpose the restrictions. Good grief. He needs to tell those who want to go to the beach to follow the rules they have been following already.

Or, he could deputize Texas Parks & Wildlife rangers to work alongside Department of Public Safety troopers to issue citations to those they see clustering like these yahoos.

We are witnessing a rush to potential disaster and it gives my family me all the justification we need to keep doing what we’ve been doing to avoid getting caught by the killer virus.

State news

Wishing re-opening of Texas can work … but doubts remain

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

I want to wish Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has done his due diligence in determining the time is right to restart the state’s economic machinery.

Oh, man, the doubt persists.

Abbott said he is going to grant permission for restaurants, malls and movie theaters to welcome guests beginning Friday. Yes, it’s a cautious approach, but I remain deeply concerned about whether even this timid approach will cause another spike in the infection rate caused by the COVID-19 virus that has killed more than 700 Texans.

I just don’t know how this is going to work.

My wife and I plan to stay at home. We aren’t going to frequent restaurants; we will stay out of movie theaters; we aren’t going to the mall to mingle with others; we will continue to wear cloth masks when we go to the grocery store or put fuel in our truck. We will maintain social distance.

Abbott said he would rely on the doctors and data to determine his decision. I will take him at his word that he has done as he pledged to do. I just wonder if the time is yet right to start that return to what we used to call “normal” in Texas.

As Ross Ramsey writes in the Texas Tribune:

The protesters and holdouts are interesting, but to see how this is going, watch the people in the middle — the actual mainstream Texans. That big group wants to get things running but also thinks social distancing is a pretty good idea right now.

Their actions will speak louder than anyone’s — even Greg Abbott’s. And they seem to be the group he’s watching, too, as he anxiously opens the door.

I will act as if we’re still under restriction.

State news

Thanks, Gov. Abbott, but no thanks; I’m staying home

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says it’s time to reopen the state. The stay at home order he issued has done its job by reducing the level of infection from COVID-19.

Restaurants, malls, museums, libraries, retail outlets can reopen, he said today, but they have to limit it to 25 percent of capacity.

Governor, you may count me as one Texan who’s going to stay away. My wife and I are going to continue doing what we’ve been doing: We’ll go out only when we must purchase an essential item; we’re going to keep wearing masks; we’re going to wipe door handles, shopping carts and our hands with sanitized wipes.

I want Texas and the nation to get back to business as much as the next guy. However, I am leery of any relaxation at this moment. I keep reading about the potential for spikes in infection. I keep fearing the prospect of testing positive for the virus. I am 70 years of age; my wife is a bit younger, but she, too, is at risk. The good news is that we both enjoy good health but we want to ensure that our health status remains good.

I do endorse the notion that Abbott’s decision doesn’t require businesses to reopen, but that it gives them the permission to do so. They shouldn’t rush to fling open their doors, even to a 25-percent capacity.

With that, I just want to say “thanks, Gov. Abbott, but no thanks.” I am going to stay home and keep doing what I have been doing until we can report an even greater significant decline in the rate of infection.

local news

COVID crisis creates confusion

I am full of contradictory emotions at this moment in light of the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic.

Although I miss doing many of things I cannot do at the moment, I am in no rush to return to doing them. I fear contamination. I don’t want to get sick. Nor do I want my family members and others I love to become sickened by the virus.

I miss going to the gym each morning. I miss the occasional meal in a restaurant where the waiter/waitress serves us at a table. I miss shaking hands with friends I encounter. I miss being able to hug my granddaughter.

You get my drift, right?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reportedly is going to issue an executive order this coming week that begins to loosen the restrictions he has placed on us. He reportedly also is getting pushback from his conservative political allies who want him to move more quickly; they want a more aggressive reopening of the economy than I think — or at least I hope — the governor favors.

Don’t listen to ’em, Gov. Abbott. For that matter, I wouldn’t object if the governor were to delay the reopening for another couple of weeks, or maybe a month, or even longer. I want to see more progress made in the stemming of the infection and death rates. I want there to be more testing available for Texans; hey, we rank near the bottom of the states in the testing for the viral infection.

I damn sure don’t want Abbott to act on any hint he might be getting from Donald J. “The Waffler in Chief” Trump, who said he liked Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s strategy of reopening his state and then the very next day said Kemp was moving too rapidly.

This virus is still killing and sickening too many of us. If Abbott is going to reopen the state’s economy, I want him to do it ever so slowly … and I still might wait a while longer before I am ready to return to the way it used to be.

medical news

‘Tyranny’ is not the enemy; the enemy is a killer disease

The nimrod in this picture has it wrong, along with the rest of the nimrods who protested the restrictions imposed on Virginia residents by that state’s governor, Ralph Northam.

The enemy that should arouse this clown’s ire isn’t “tyranny.” It is a disease that could kill this clown if he isn’t careful. Thus, Gov. Northam as well as many other governors has imposed restrictions that seek to protect the people he was elected to serve.

Of course, we’re hearing from our share of dips***s too in Texas. Some of them descended on Austin to protest the measures that Gov. Greg Abbott has imposed. Abbott is about to lift some of them, but he insists that he will rely on “data and doctors” to guide his decisions.

I remain committed instead to protecting my health along with my wife’s health, not to mention the health of my children, their loved ones, my grandkids. I also want to add that a significant majority of Americans oppose any lifting of the restrictions until there is certainty that the coronavirus is on the wane; we aren’t there yet.

Do I want to return to some semblance of normal? Sure I do. I also happen to believe in good government and my definition of good government compels elected officials to take occasionally dramatic measures to protect us against disease. The coronavirus that has killed nearly 45,000 Americans is deadly in the extreme.

Some of the protesters are marching under signs that say “Give me liberty or give me death.” Think about the hideous irony of that message. If someone wants “liberty” as defined by protesters’ demands that governors relax the restrictions they have imposed, they well could also get “death” if the restrictions are taken away prematurely.

Liberty and death in this context are not mutually exclusive, my fellow Americans … if you get my drift.

State news

Classrooms remain empty for the rest of the school year

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MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

BLOGGER’S NOTE: This post has been corrected. Your blogger regrets the error of the original post.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made what might be among the most predictable decisions yet in this coronavirus pandemic fight.

He has closed Texas’s public schools for the remainder of the academic year. The state’s 5.4 million students and their teachers and school staffers are still at work. They are studying at home. Teachers are sending study materials to the students’ homes; the students are turning in their work. However, the school buildings themselves remain dark.

A relaxation of other restrictions appears to be coming. Abbott announced the formation of a task force that will craft a list of recommendations to be presented in fairly short order on how the state should proceed with lifting certain restrictions.

The school recommendation was pretty much a fait accompli. Abbott had set a May 4 target date for classes to reopen with students and teachers, but that date became unrealistic because the state was unable to curb the infection rate sufficiently to allow the reopening of schools.

Now comes the harder part. The “strike force” that Abbott announced will decide on a phased-in approach to restarting the Texas economy. Abbott already has announced some loosening of restrictions at hospitals, certain retail businesses and — this is my favorite item — reopening of state parks; my wife and I are itching to awaken our fifth wheel from its extended winter hibernation and take it to a state park for a few days.

Abbott pledges that his actions will be guided by “data and doctors.” That’s a welcome pledge from the governor. Proceed, Gov. Abbott … but with maximum caution.

I, too, am anxious to return to some semblance of what we used to think of as normal. However, the stakes are too great to mess this up by proceeding too hastily.

State news

Gov. Abbott needs to defend Texas

I know what I am about to ask will be tantamount to waiting for hell to freeze over, but it’s worth asking anyway.

When are you going to challenge Donald Trump’s profound ignorance of the U.S. Constitution, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and defend for your own executive authority as governor of one of our 50 United States?

There the president was on Monday, proclaiming that he has “absolute authority” to order states to relax their own governor’s executive orders issued in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump declared that he makes the call as president of the United States, that he can dictate when the country can get back to business as usual.

Meanwhile, some governors — almost all of them Democrats — have begun to push back on that. Chief among them is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has emerged as the real political superstar in this drama while he deals with the death and illness brought to his state by the pandemic. Cuomo reminded Trump that he is an “elected president” and is not a king.

Oh, and where is Abbott? The Republican governor is silent … so far. Good grief. He knows better than to accept Donald Trump’s ridiculous assertion of “absolute authority.” Abbott took an oath to defend the Constitution when he became governor in 2015. Indeed, he is lawyer, a former trial judge in Houston, a former Texas Supreme Court justice and a former Texas attorney general. He knows the law.

Federal law — along with the 10th Amendment to the Constitution — do not allow the president to intercede in such a ham-handed fashion.

Abbott is planning to release his own directive later this week on how he intends to proceed with possible relaxation of stay at home guidelines for Texans. Trump in effect has declared that Abbott’s pending announcement is irrelevant, that the president can exert whatever authority he deems fit to force states to follow his bidding.

He does not have that authority.

Gov. Abbott needs to make that fact abundantly clear to the ignoramus who is posing as president of the United States.