# Screw Greg Abbott {Texas Governor} **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 2, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141 "2021-03-02T21:00:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/462 "2022-03-01T13:55:02Z")
For those playing along at home, Abbott will face the voters for the first time since 2018 today in the Republican primary. Quite a bit has happened since then – global pandemic, catastrophic failure of the power grid, intense radicalization of the party. And none of it is likely to have any impact on his electoral prospects. He has a couple of spirited challengers on his right, but the polling says he should handily clear the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff. I do think Abbott’s a testament to how successful one can be in politics by simply having no fixed principles. Republican voters claim that they want a “principled conservative,” but they don’t really. A politician who genuinely stood on his or her fixed principles might end up on the wrong side of an issue from what they want (e.g. Liz Cheney). Republicans much prefer a weak reed they can push around by making enough noise. Abbott fits the bill to a tee. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/463 "2022-03-01T14:26:27Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Republicans much prefer a weak reed they can push around by making enough noise. Being a weak reed is a kind of principle. ---
**Author:** ![Kzbre5m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kzbre5m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kzbre5m)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/464 "2022-03-01T16:43:12Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > The project to turn Texas into a conservative police state takes another big step forward. Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate any gender-affirming medical interventions of trans minors as child abuse (following on an opinion by AG Paxton that deterimined such procedures fell under state child abuse statutes). Abbott also pointed out that professionals who have contact with children are legally mandated to report suspected incidents of child abuse or face criminal charges. And that, “There are similar reporting requirements and criminal penalties for members of the general public.” > > So inform on your trans kid neighbor taking hormone blockers or prepare to be thrown in jail. This is going to be interesting come April 20th, when the FIRST robotics championships comes to Houston, with thousands of K-12 students from around the world, along with their mentors, teachers, parents, etc. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/465 "2022-03-01T16:45:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Being a weak reed is a kind of principle. It wouldn’t be stretching reality much to call it a creed. Albeit a wee one. (d&r) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/466 "2022-03-02T00:30:32Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Republican voters claim that they want a “principled conservative,” but they don’t really. But they do. Their principles are, as someone said in today’s news, to make Black votes not count, and also to take social assistance away from those in need, and to demonize those who “don’t look like us, don’t talk like us, don’t make money like us”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/467 "2022-03-02T01:00:45Z")
“Or fuck like us.” ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/468 "2022-03-05T04:16:50Z")
So several hospitals in Texas are now halting gender therapy\* or under 18s based on fear of criminal actions . I do not believe in heven or hell, but if I am wrong , and my reading of the teachings of the person these fucknuggles claim to follow is correct, there is a significant upside to being wrong and that is Abbot, Patrick , Paxton and a host of other hateful people will be roasting alongside me, and I’ll be good with that. It would make eternity bearable. Now I am almost hoping I am wrong. - gender affirming care , not so called therapy to stop people being who they are , in case that wasn’t clear . ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/469 "2022-03-11T22:17:30Z")
> **[Texas Court Halts Abuse Inquiries Into Parents of Transgender Children...](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/us/texas-transgender-child-abuse.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DODm8biPkORJSN607WILZ5bt0o0DmdSNJbdbQvRfh-i-ZVIldgDQm0p5_O0LI0HxIIk6PhFGUnw8CKGrki7T7hamT-cO52n-fm4UjDOWW7ULjYhSZ3OAZvocB6cVv93CRfx63CE7J_ycA-ial6fu1yRzsDbSGAv_n6WV4paJjdMEaqukRhUPpZWDrTgded97oDFQ5SAlrGR395in0uvJIeYJhEefaicGNzPZb2kr4TCWd3LYq2B5RXRIPcl75itbOlugUFsEmexe1TQc_AmZujuQxn&smid=url-share)** > > A judge said the governor’s order to consider medically accepted treatments for transgender youth as abuse had been improperly adopted and violated the State Constitution. > HOUSTON — Child abuse investigators in Texas have been told to prioritize cases involving the parents of transgender children and to investigate them without exception, after the state’s governor [ordered certain medical care to be treated as abuse](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/science/texas-abbott-transgender-child-abuse.html), an investigations supervisor said during a court hearing on Friday. > > The supervisor, Randa Mulanax of the Department of Family and Protective Services, testified that the agency was not given the freedom to determine that a given report involving a transgender child was likely not in fact a case of child abuse — so-called “priority none” status — and that investigators were not able to close the cases. > > “I’ve been told about that directly,” said Ms. Mulanax, who has submitted her resignation to the department. “You cannot priority-none these cases.” > … Right. These cases are a higher priority than kids who are being trafficked, or locked in a closet and fed table scraps, or abandoned on the street by indifferent parents. Right, Greg, you MF. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/470 "2022-03-11T22:24:33Z")
I guess they got rid of all the rapists already. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/471 "2022-03-12T04:23:07Z")
Re: > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/us/texas-transgender-child-abuse.html?unlocked\_article\_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw\_PIxftm3iWka3DODm8biPkORJSN607WILZ5bt0o0DmdSNJbdbQvRfh-i-ZVIldgDQm0p5\_O0LI0HxIIk6PhFGUnw8CKGrki7T7hamT-cO52n-fm4UjDOWW7ULjYhSZ3OAZvocB6cVv93CRfx63CE7J\_ycA-ial6fu1yRzsDbSGAv\_n6WV4paJjdMEaqukRhUPpZWDrTgded97oDFQ5SAlrGR395in0uvJIeYJhEefaicGNzPZb2kr4TCWd3LYq2B5RXRIPcl75itbOlugUFsEmexe1TQc\_AmZujuQxn&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/us/texas-transgender-child-abuse.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DODm8biPkORJSN607WILZ5bt0o0DmdSNJbdbQvRfh-i-ZVIldgDQm0p5_O0LI0HxIIk6PhFGUnw8CKGrki7T7hamT-cO52n-fm4UjDOWW7ULjYhSZ3OAZvocB6cVv93CRfx63CE7J_ycA-ial6fu1yRzsDbSGAv_n6WV4paJjdMEaqukRhUPpZWDrTgded97oDFQ5SAlrGR395in0uvJIeYJhEefaicGNzPZb2kr4TCWd3LYq2B5RXRIPcl75itbOlugUFsEmexe1TQc_AmZujuQxn&smid=url-share) No doubt everyone has heard by now: Your link now points to an updated version of the same article, with a new headline – The court issued a temporary injunction against all such investigations pending a trial, to be held in July. An earlier order barred the investigation of this particular plaintiff family, but this order bars such investigations state-wide. The order appears to be based on separation of powers – that Abbott’s executive order infringes on the authority of the legislature to make such laws. So it wasn’t really treated as a civil rights case, it looks like. Does this mean the legislature could go ahead and pass a law like this next? ETA: Article on the same subject at HuffPost: > **[Texas Blocked From Investigating Transgender Kids' Parents For Child Abuse](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bc-us-transgender-youth-texas_n_622bdaf7e4b0d1329e8535d1)** > > A Texas judge ruled Friday to bar the state from investigating gender-affirming care for transgender youth as abuse. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/472 "2022-03-12T16:03:23Z")
Thanks for updating that. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/473 "2022-03-12T16:36:32Z")
Yeah. It just _has to be_ heartening on those rare occasions when your State temporarily lapses from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Don’t get comfortable, y’all 😉 🙁 I was never worried about Sharia Law; only about the US Christian Taliban, who – themselves – feared the competition from Fundamentalist Muslims (ie, the perpetual battle for Insanity Supremacy). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/474 "2022-03-12T17:08:12Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > It just _has to be_ heartening on those rare occasions when your State temporarily lapses from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Oh, it’s only temporary, that’s for sure. [![](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/posters/beatings-will-continue-until-morale-improves_u-L-PXJGXP0.jpg?artHeight=550&artPerspective=n&artWidth=550&background=ffffff) ](https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/posters/beatings-will-continue-until-morale-improves_u-L-PXJGXP0.jpg?artHeight=550&artPerspective=n&artWidth=550&background=ffffff) ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/475 "2022-03-12T17:18:50Z")
The thing about judges in Texas is that they’re all elected. So you’ll get some sane district and appellate court judges in jurisdictions more inclined toward sanity. But the Supreme Court is elected statewide and fully comprised of Republicans. And five of the nine current justices were originally appointed by Abbott to fill vacancies. I fully expect them to reverse the district court’s ruling. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/476 "2022-03-12T19:56:32Z")
Several of us mentioned that a True Blue state should do with guns and third-party civil litigation what TX did with abortion. And then California proposed the same thing. Maybe Gavin Newsom should should hand down an edict that tells Child Protective Services that teaching your children about fairy tales via organized religion is abuse, and assigning it a top priority for CPS investigations “**[even if they did not think abuse had occurred](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/texas-judge-rule-probes-transgender-kids-parents-2022-03-11/)**.” I’ve said for years that secular Americans are always on defense, never on offense. This would still be a reactive gesture, but … it would make **me** smile 😉 [I don’t like the perpetual political race to the bottom, either, but it doesn’t seem like the Left is gaining any ground by – \*generally\* – not competing] ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/477 "2022-03-12T20:32:43Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Apparently the fact that the cases have been declining, vaccines exist (but aren’t administered to a significant percentage of Texans), and people have PPE to wear if they so choose is reason enough to just blow away all COVID related restrictions, and that basically it’s our responsibility to protect ourselves I’m not sure if the pitting is honest or satirical. Outside of your second point’s parenthetical (which is false - 60-70% are vaccinated and that’s definitely a significant percentage if not a sufficient percentage), those all seem like reasonable reasons. At this point in time, either you’ve gotten vaccinated or you’re not going to. If you’re not going to, you’ve almost certainly been exposed and the vaccine is largely (but not completely) redundant. Covid doesn’t understand the difference between vaccine-generated antibodies and exposure-driven antibodies. Sure, one of those is better but the functional vaccination rate of the nation is probably between 90-95%, guesstimating from UK and Indonesian numbers: [https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/antibodies](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/antibodies) [https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesia-survey-finds-85-population-have-covid-19-antibodies-2022-01-06/](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesia-survey-finds-85-population-have-covid-19-antibodies-2022-01-06/) Texas might be on the lower end of that range but it’s well past where it needs to be until next winter. More masks, more social isolation, etc. sure that will be more perfect towards preventing Covid infection than just trusting antibodies. But, at some point, there are other concerns in life. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/478 "2022-03-12T22:49:37Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I’m not sure if the pitting is honest or satirical. Outside of your second point’s parenthetical (which is false - 60-70% are vaccinated and that’s definitely a significant percentage if not a sufficient percentage), those all seem like reasonable reasons. Ignoring your other denials of reality (new variants, waning immunity, long covid, the recent huge omicron wave, the ongoing death and disease all around the world), I’ll just point out that the OP is from March of 2021, when indeed vaccines had not been administered to a significant percentage of Texans. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/479 "2022-03-13T03:56:55Z")
FYI, the post you quoted was March _ **2021** _ not 2022. So at the time, it was absolutely insane for the state government to have essentially lifted all restrictions back then. Now? Not so much. Even the CDC is saying that a great part of the state is good to go without masks these days. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2022, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/480 "2022-03-16T02:53:12Z")
> [@bump](#): > > FYI, the post you quoted was March _ **2021** _ not 2022. D’oh! Rescinded! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141/481 "2022-04-30T14:31:16Z")
This thread has been dormant, but Unca Greg is still hard at work wasting tax dollars… > **[State moves extra $495M to border - San Antonio Express, 4/30/2022](http://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/odn/sanantonioexpressnews/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=SAEN%2F2022%2F04%2F30&entity=Ar00205&sk=418E0DA8&mode=text)** > > San Antonio Express - 4/30/2022 > With the approval of Republican state leaders, Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday pulled nearly half a billion dollars from various state agency budgets to fund the swelling cost of deploying thousands of National Guard troops to the southern border. > > The $495 million transfer comes weeks after Texas military leaders warned that they would soon run out of money to fund the 10,000-member deployment under Abbott’s border initiative, known as Operation Lone Star. More than 6,000 guard soldiers are stationed along the border to help state troopers apprehend and jail migrants suspected of trespassing on private property. > … > > The governor’s border operation has faced a number of setbacks since it was launched last March, starting with a “catch-and-jail” trespass arrest scheme that overwhelmed county criminal justice systems. > > Amid the early chaos, hundreds of migrants were released on cashless pretrial bonds after sitting in jail for weeks without being formally charged or appointed an attorney, both apparent violations of state law that defense attorneys said were continuing as of last month. > > Since then, reports have emerged that the guard was late in sending paychecks to soldiers stationed at the border, among numerous other issues that culminated in Abbott’s move last month to replace the head of the military department. > > With counties unequipped to process the “catch-and-jail” arrests, Texas officials have spent millions of dollars cobbling together a patchwork system of courts and jails devoted to the task. Most of the work has been performed by handpicked companies paid to build booking facilities, convert state prisons into jails and transport jailed defendants to the state-run lockups, according to records obtained by Hearst Newspapers. > > During a two-month span last summer, as the trespassing arrests began, the Texas Division of Emergency Management **doled out at least 12 non-competitively bid purchases for Operation Lone Star costs, collectively worth up to $45 million.** The agency also sent out a purchase order in January for a booking facility in Hebbronville with an estimated tab of $43 million. > … Well, somebody is making money off this thing, eh? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-greg-abbott-texas-governor/934141.md?page=25)