{"id":41200,"date":"2020-02-12T15:50:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T15:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=41200"},"modified":"2020-02-12T15:50:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T15:50:03","slug":"texas-ag-to-california-butt-out-of-our-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=41200","title":{"rendered":"Texas AG to California: Butt out of our affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BLOGGER’S NOTE: This item was published initially on KETR-FM’s website, ketr.org.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I am inclined as a general rule to oppose Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton\u2019s world view on most matters.<\/p>\n

However, on the issue of seeking to remove one state\u2019s non-essential travel ban to Texas because of our state\u2019s strong stand in favor of \u201creligious liberty,\u201d I believe he is onto something.<\/p>\n

What constitutes \u201cessential travel\u201d? I suppose one example would be in the event of a natural disaster emergency, in which firefighters or other first responders travel from California to Texas to lend aid.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the issue: In 2017, Texas legislators enacted a law that, among other things, allows foster-care agencies to prevent same-sex couples from adopting children. California responded by banning non-essential publicly funded travel from California to Texas, citing what California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called a discriminatory policy against gay Americans. It falls under the religious liberty doctrine, of which Paxton has become an aggressive advocate.<\/p>\n

At one level, Becerra has a point. I don\u2019t like the Texas law either. I believe \u2013 on this point \u2013 that gay couples are fully capable of being loving parents to children who need a home. As one who believes homosexuality is a matter of genetics rather than upbringing or of choice<\/em>, the Texas law looks to me to be an overreach.<\/p>\n

However, so is the California response to this state enacting a law that comports with its residents\u2019 generally conservative world view.<\/p>\n

Paxton has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene on Texas\u2019 behalf. He is asking the highest court in the land to overturn the California travel ban, saying that California is trying to police how other states conduct their affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is attempting to punish Texans for respecting the right of conscience for foster care and adoption workers,\u201d Paxton said.<\/p>\n

As the Texas Tribune reports, this latest salvo is just the latest in a long-running feud between the states, with California and Texas being the country\u2019s top Democratic and Republican strongholds, respectively. Do you remember how former Gov. Rick Perry would venture to California to lure businesses from that state to Texas? Critics of that effort \u2013 and I was one of them \u2013 called it \u201cjob poaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paxton \u2013 who is in the midst of another fight involving his own indictment for securities fraud \u2013 has now joined the battle.<\/p>\n

Texas is one of 11 states that have received travel bans from California, which to Paxton\u2019s eyes is acting like a state run by busy-bodies. One of those states, Oklahoma, responded by banning non-essential travel to California from Oklahoma. I suppose Texas could respond accordingly.<\/p>\n

Paxton is likely to have a friendly audience if the high court decides to take up the case. It has a solid conservative majority. Yes, it\u2019s only 5-4 at the moment, but the five conservative justices \u2013 with the possible exception of Chief Justice John Roberts \u2013 are inclined to stand solidly behind GOP policymakers\u2019 point of view.<\/p>\n

I will say that I think Paxton makes a solid argument that California need not intrude into the affairs of other states governed by politicians who don\u2019t hue to that state\u2019s political leaning.<\/p>\n\n

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BLOGGER’S NOTE: This item was published initially on KETR-FM’s website, ketr.org. I am inclined as a general rule to oppose Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton\u2019s world view on most matters. However, on the issue of seeking to remove one state\u2019s non-essential travel ban to Texas because of our state\u2019s strong stand in favor of \u201creligious … Continue reading Texas AG to California: Butt out of our affairs<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2652,8436,3341,3887],"class_list":["post-41200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-news","tag-ken-paxton","tag-ketr-fm","tag-npr","tag-religious-liberty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41202,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41200\/revisions\/41202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}