by Noah
While everyone was worried about the Taliban's taking over of Afghanistan, they should have been at least just as focused on the Taliban that has been taking over Texas for years. Texas is not just about its virulent racism and the murder of voting rights. Texas is also about "putting women in their place" and this time, with their new anti-abortion law, they have gone above and beyond in their efforts to prove that. A lot of Texas Republican types, probably most of 'em, have always gone around muttering about wanting to secede. It's time to meet them more than halfway. If they want to be Saudi Arabia, so be it.
Meanwhile, what we have is more domestic terrorism from the Republican Party. Domestic Terrorism is their specialty. This time, they have used the legislature of Texas, our biggest nut state, to push forward a portion of their version of the Taliban agenda. This time, it wasn't a rag tag militia of gun-flashing incels like in Michigan or an attempt to hunt down politicians and hang them as they tried to do in Washington on 1/6. It is, instead, the placement of a $10,000 bounty on women who seek to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion procedure, and on anyone even remotely connected to them, by the legislators themselves.
This fine tuning of the Republican Party's constant efforts at battering women is even worse than that. Yes, it forbids having an abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy even though most women don't even know they are pregnant within the first 6 weeks. But, the law also enables anyone in the country to become a vigilante bounty hunter in search of a diabolically fiendish $10,000 payday. With the new Texas anti-abortion law, anyone anywhere in the country, including you, me, or anyone we know, is being encouraged to track down anyone we suspect of having had an abortion in Texas, and/or anyone connected to the woman, and sue them in a Texas kangaroo court in order to punish them and collect the $10,000 bounty without incurring any legal costs. The bounty offer from Texas also includes going after anyone who may have given a woman money for the clinic visit, any clergy or medical professional who might have been consulted for advice, a spouse or other relative, anyone who provided transport to the facility where the abortion was either discused or performed including an uber driver, taxi driver, or even a bus driver who lets the woman off at the clinic. All are targets of the new Texas law we've been hearing about since Tuesday night. It's intimidation of the public. It directly targets women and anyone who lends a helping hand. The law is a terrorizing and paralyzing threat. By definition, the Texas law targets their families with the threat of ruination. So much for being the party of "family values." That was always a lie anyway.
This part of the new Texas Taliban law will of course, create a whole new widespread vigilante business of people who just spend their time snooping on others for fun and profit. To this end, Texas will push itself into being a state where the idea of everyone spying on each other is maximized. This is akin to Russian communists and German Nazis having ordinary citizens, even children, turning in their parents and snitching on their neighbors if they so much as give them a funny look. This is Texas. This is the Republican ideal! Oh, and naturally, or should I say, unnaturally, if a woman or a 13 year old girl is impregnated by her father, uncle, or brother (something that is likely more common in Texas than in most places), the new law still applies. A quick $10,000 for some goofball republican bounty hunter! I can see them on TV in the very near future, giving press conferences at any and every Four Seasons Landscaping they can find. Ruined lives, privacy, and human misery be damned! Ka-ching! We will also soon see a whole parade of these vigilantes being interviewed and lauded on FOX "News," AON, and Newsmax. I can just imagine what the congratulatory phone call from Moscow Mitch to the top repugs in the Texas legislature was like. After all, this is why he rammed three Nazi nutball justices through the $enate confirmation process; always planning ahead.
Here's a thought: Dear Democratic Party, you have the White House, the House, and the $enate. You could stop talking about it as you have for years and codify Roe vs. Wade and make it court proof before the court rules on the nefarious Mississippi Roe vs. Wade case in October. Haven't you dragged your feet enough? Rather than just stand around like you're watching a flaming car crash and doing nothing to save people in the cars, how about you vaporize the $enate filibuster if you have to in order to make a great American statement and protect a woman's right to choose? You could also make the following move: When the Supreme Court went to 9 justices way back in the 19th century, we had 37 states. 9 for 37. We now have 50 states. Proportionately, that means 12 justices. Make it so. Catch up with the times. It's bad enough that all of you have a 1950s mindset but this country is dying from that mindset that you so stubbornly cling to. Yeah, I know. You will do nothing not just because of your antiquated mindset but because you are all a bunch of deplorable gutless pussies and there's no money in it. All there is in it is human decency. Look it up.
