GOP Bullying Shows TX To Be Tex-A$$

Some people have too great an idea of their own self-importance that is completely out of touch with whether they are important or not. They think they matter as much as Trump, but they don’t. Really, even Trump doesn’t matter that much these days. Send him off to play golf so he doesn’t sit around and think of more stupid things to try. The fools I’m discussing don’t apparently play golf, so we can’t send them off. Too bad. From The New Republic via AlterNet:

Although Democrats are a minority party in Texas and struggle in statewide races, they are a vocal minority. And Democrats in the Texas State Legislature recently attracted a great deal of national attention when they left the state to protest the redistricting/gerrymandering plan pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump. Those Democratic state lawmakers, however, returned to Texas, and State Rep. Dustin Burrows — Republican speaker of the Texas House of Representatives — demanded that they sign a pledge agreeing to have round-the-clock police escorts in case they tried to flee Texas again. But State Rep. Nicolle Collier, a Democrat, refused to sign it.

Well now, isn’t that some shizzle? We’re going to restrict you with police 24/7, because you made us look stupid when you left the state, for a very good reason. We don’t trust you to stay put again. We’re going to make *certain* you stay home. Good grief. That’s beyond petty. It’s downright OCD. There *are* adults in this room, you joker!

In a scathing article published by The New Republic on August 21, legal scholar and former federal prosecutor Harry Litman argues that Collier made Burrows and Texas House Administration Committee Chair Charlie Geren, a Republican, “look like the oafish jerks that they are. It’s all made Burrows’ tough-guy posturing look petty and overbearing, especially since the Democrats had returned to town and cleared the way for Republicans to redraw the state map to squeeze out five more seats,” Litman emphasizes. “They had done so only after California Democrats had moved forward with a plan to counter Texas with its own redrawn map with five new Democratic seats, a plan the California Supreme Court has now greenlighted.”

Yes, it does. For one thing, they could have just *asked* the Democrats instead of making them supply an oath in their own blood. They could have treated each other like adults. Instead, Burrows and Charlie Geren look like a pair of big, dumb schoolyard bullies. Ms Collier proved it. If you didn’t accept the police, you had to stay in the building. She did, along with a couple of others who also stayed to support her. That doesn’t look good on you, guys, not at all.

Litman poses the question: “What authority, you might ask, does Burrows have to deprive Collier of her liberty?” And his answer is “none.” “And what about federal civil rights violations?” Litman continues, “And we can be certain that Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice is not going to bring a federal civil rights case against the Texas Republican House speaker with Maxine Collier as the victim. But suppose Burrows is able to escape the consequences of his unlawful, politicized conduct. In that case, it will only confirm that Texas has been captured by the same arrogant bullying, lawlessness, and delusion of omnipotence that have already corrupted the rule of law under Trump.

WHAM. There it is. And that’s what will be proved because that’s what will (or won’t) happen. Who is going to be next? Or is the furor going to be enough that no one else will want to try? This could be ugly. I hope it dies a nice, quiet death once the damn thing is finished. Stereotypical Republicans. Ugh.

Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, with the exception of one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to keep going in our quest to tell the truth about Trump and see democracy survive. If you can help, please do. Thanks. Ursula

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