You know how toddlers do sometimes when they skip their naps and the simplest perceived slight turns into a 30-minute-long RAGER of a screaming, crying temper tantrum? Well, that is what is happening to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton right now, and it is beautiful. We'd say somebody should intervene, but we think we're gonna have to just let him cry it out. He
I may not have been as clear as I'd like to be. I'm drawing a line between the sort of thing you describe, which is fine and even necessary, I'd say, and lazy jokes that contribute nothing. I hate seeing so called progressives dismiss an entire population of oppressed people and then pat themselves on the back about it. It pretty much only applies to people who make the "build a wall around Texas" jokes and stop there.I can't though, even get behind kicking out the wingnuts, as appealing as that is. I enjoy that idea for five minutes, and then I think of the kids they will have and realize that within a generation we'll need to be smuggling women and children out of there while they shoot at us!
"Perverse" is the best & only word for people like Paxton--as in, taking a perverse position that people in *power*, people who have huge amounts of money and hold a majority of public offices in America, are being persecuted, kept down, etc. The fact is that the nation is still run by wealthy wingnuts, among whom most hide behind some sort of religious piety as a fig leaf for their everyday crimes. We've still got politicians in local, state & federal positions invoking God Almighty every goddamned day--and far too few public atheists who'll state with human pride that there is no guiding Creator, and that we've got to hold ourselves to our own laws.
Listen, I don't wanna be a Debbie Downer on the monumental occasion of this SCOTUS decision--but: let's please remember that only *weeks ago* this same Texas AG Paxton was able to celebrate victory as the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Texas' House Bill 2, which could soon shut down half of the abortion clinics in the state. So many battles yet to be won...
I. . . really hope SCOTUS steps in on HB2. They'll have to rule on it eventually, and I'm cautiously optimistic. I don't know that we can get an actual expansion of abortion rights through SCOTUS now, but I don't quite think Kennedy (ugh. it has to come down to Kennedy. How much do you think he loves the attention? A lot, right?) would be willing to let access disappear in Texas or in Mississippi. But if they don't stay the 5th circuit's ruling in the meantime it's too late for us. Our only hope is one that women in other parts of the country don't have - drugs from Mexico, the campaign that has been happening here to share information on how to obtain them and use them safely. I read that international activists are dropping these drugs by freaking drone into Poland. Once clinics close, the barriers to reopening even if the laws are struck are huge. If they all close, our only hope is to make illegal abortions safe and accessible. They almost always were for the "right" people. The "wrong" people had to deal with the unscrupulous and the predatory and we may have to start trying to citizen-police the unscrupulous and the predatory while finding ways to protect the good doctors and nurses who want to help women. Actually, the first time I heard the word "abortion" or at least the first time it was defined for me was my mom telling me how the kind old man I just met at my grandparent's party lost his medical license because he got caught doing abortions out of his office and in the hospital (something else on the paperwork). He did this for women, she said, because he say the way they were harmed by bad procedures done by people who didn't know better or simply didn't care. He saw women despairing because they were pregnant again and would never get away from their abusers this way, or their marriages were happy but another child might strain that relationship. He saw women who didn't want to be pregnant for whatever reason and realized that that would always be, and saw it as his obligation to help make that choice safe for them. Sorry for the ramble. I was taught when I was young that we had won this war. And the sad result is that for too long, I was not paying attention. And now I am.
He legit does NOT understand the first amendment. Some of these dudes are pandering, but Ken Paxton is really really fucking stupid. This will be his only term. His party doesn't even like him, he was just the guy with an R by his name, and it is a tiny number of people deciding the primary, and therefore the general, no matter what Dan "Texas gave me a mandate" Patrick may say.
It's still almost too horrible to believe (but for the legislative skirmishes vs Roe and legal abortion access waged by wingnuts since the 70s). Religious fanatics complain about SCOTUS, and yet they do an end-run around what should be binding law every chance they get, and by any means.
Wingnuts are complaining about "judicial activism" because they're so used to getting their way. (For example - just as they've done an end-run around Roe, they've pulled all sorts of tricks to get around Kitzmiller v Dover, and to push religion and creationism in schools.) And if AG Paxton is butthurt at the moment, it's because he's so used to getting his way (and that includes his holding his office in the first place).
Guess what, gay people? Did you know that you all hatemongering bigots who hate good Christians? Your marriages are persecuting honest God-fearing people who just want to be left alone and not have their rights to force the Good News about Jesus on you violated.
he lied (shocker), he didn't literally mean he was going to set himself on fire. But I'm willing to help him keep his promise. After all, his very vengeful god said that lying violates the 10 Commandments. Better to burn for a couple minutes in this life than to burn for all eternity, amirite?
Oh, do shut up. I happen to be a straight, happily married Christian man, and I believe marriage equality to be a beautiful thing. In fact, if your marriage is so threatened, then perhaps you're gay? Otherwise, sit down and be quiet because you are not demonstrating the traits of a true Christian.
I may not have been as clear as I'd like to be. I'm drawing a line between the sort of thing you describe, which is fine and even necessary, I'd say, and lazy jokes that contribute nothing. I hate seeing so called progressives dismiss an entire population of oppressed people and then pat themselves on the back about it. It pretty much only applies to people who make the "build a wall around Texas" jokes and stop there.I can't though, even get behind kicking out the wingnuts, as appealing as that is. I enjoy that idea for five minutes, and then I think of the kids they will have and realize that within a generation we'll need to be smuggling women and children out of there while they shoot at us!
You are golden.
"Perverse" is the best & only word for people like Paxton--as in, taking a perverse position that people in *power*, people who have huge amounts of money and hold a majority of public offices in America, are being persecuted, kept down, etc. The fact is that the nation is still run by wealthy wingnuts, among whom most hide behind some sort of religious piety as a fig leaf for their everyday crimes. We've still got politicians in local, state & federal positions invoking God Almighty every goddamned day--and far too few public atheists who'll state with human pride that there is no guiding Creator, and that we've got to hold ourselves to our own laws.
Listen, I don't wanna be a Debbie Downer on the monumental occasion of this SCOTUS decision--but: let's please remember that only *weeks ago* this same Texas AG Paxton was able to celebrate victory as the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Texas' House Bill 2, which could soon shut down half of the abortion clinics in the state. So many battles yet to be won...
You must have one of those recalled irony detectors. Bring it in to your dealer for a free fix.
I. . . really hope SCOTUS steps in on HB2. They'll have to rule on it eventually, and I'm cautiously optimistic. I don't know that we can get an actual expansion of abortion rights through SCOTUS now, but I don't quite think Kennedy (ugh. it has to come down to Kennedy. How much do you think he loves the attention? A lot, right?) would be willing to let access disappear in Texas or in Mississippi. But if they don't stay the 5th circuit's ruling in the meantime it's too late for us. Our only hope is one that women in other parts of the country don't have - drugs from Mexico, the campaign that has been happening here to share information on how to obtain them and use them safely. I read that international activists are dropping these drugs by freaking drone into Poland. Once clinics close, the barriers to reopening even if the laws are struck are huge. If they all close, our only hope is to make illegal abortions safe and accessible. They almost always were for the "right" people. The "wrong" people had to deal with the unscrupulous and the predatory and we may have to start trying to citizen-police the unscrupulous and the predatory while finding ways to protect the good doctors and nurses who want to help women. Actually, the first time I heard the word "abortion" or at least the first time it was defined for me was my mom telling me how the kind old man I just met at my grandparent's party lost his medical license because he got caught doing abortions out of his office and in the hospital (something else on the paperwork). He did this for women, she said, because he say the way they were harmed by bad procedures done by people who didn't know better or simply didn't care. He saw women despairing because they were pregnant again and would never get away from their abusers this way, or their marriages were happy but another child might strain that relationship. He saw women who didn't want to be pregnant for whatever reason and realized that that would always be, and saw it as his obligation to help make that choice safe for them. Sorry for the ramble. I was taught when I was young that we had won this war. And the sad result is that for too long, I was not paying attention. And now I am.
He legit does NOT understand the first amendment. Some of these dudes are pandering, but Ken Paxton is really really fucking stupid. This will be his only term. His party doesn't even like him, he was just the guy with an R by his name, and it is a tiny number of people deciding the primary, and therefore the general, no matter what Dan "Texas gave me a mandate" Patrick may say.
It's still almost too horrible to believe (but for the legislative skirmishes vs Roe and legal abortion access waged by wingnuts since the 70s). Religious fanatics complain about SCOTUS, and yet they do an end-run around what should be binding law every chance they get, and by any means.
Wingnuts are complaining about "judicial activism" because they're so used to getting their way. (For example - just as they've done an end-run around Roe, they've pulled all sorts of tricks to get around Kitzmiller v Dover, and to push religion and creationism in schools.) And if AG Paxton is butthurt at the moment, it's because he's so used to getting his way (and that includes his holding his office in the first place).
This is all truth. All of it.
Guess what, gay people? Did you know that you all hatemongering bigots who hate good Christians? Your marriages are persecuting honest God-fearing people who just want to be left alone and not have their rights to force the Good News about Jesus on you violated.
he lied (shocker), he didn't literally mean he was going to set himself on fire. But I'm willing to help him keep his promise. After all, his very vengeful god said that lying violates the 10 Commandments. Better to burn for a couple minutes in this life than to burn for all eternity, amirite?
I don't mind appearing a bit lame, but could you tell me what you mean by "Palin legs..." or would an explanation ruin it for everyone else but me?
All he did was get confused about the difference between flammable and inflammable. It's a mistake anyone could make.
I think you need to look up "persecute" in the dictionary.
I think you need to look up "run-on sentence" in the dictionary as well.
Oh, do shut up. I happen to be a straight, happily married Christian man, and I believe marriage equality to be a beautiful thing. In fact, if your marriage is so threatened, then perhaps you're gay? Otherwise, sit down and be quiet because you are not demonstrating the traits of a true Christian.
Wow, you almost broke the Poe Meter with that one, but the "rights to force the Good News about Jesus on you" bit saved the day.
To folks jumping on dMnyc's comment: as a snark specialist, I can say with 98% confidence that this is sarcasm.