Abbott's Record Is An Assault On Texas Women And Children

Greg Abbott will try to tell you that he has a good record on protecting vulnerable Texans. But his record shows just the opposite. He has a record of harming more than helping the vulnerable -- especially women and children.

Here, from the Lone Star Project, is a brief review of his terrible record regarding women and children:

In a 1996 case, Texas Supreme Court Justice Greg Abbott denied a woman with repressed memories from suing her father for repeated sexual abusebecause she filed four months after the statute of limitations expired. Justice Priscilla Owens, a Republican, disagreed with Abbott and argued that this case of sexual assault should merit an exception. The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature even broke with Abbott when they changed the law to extend the statute of limitations in repressed memory cases.

Later, in 1998, Abbott turned his back on Kristi Read—a married mother with children who was brutally raped in her home by a convicted sex-offender working as a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. Read sued the Kirby Vacuum Company because it failed to adequately check the rapist’s criminal background which would have revealed his history of sexual assault. The conservative court voted 6-3 in favor of Mrs. Read, but Abbott voted against her, writing that the company “owed no duty” to the rape victim.

In 1999, Abbott ruled against another rape victim, Angela Holder, for suing the company that owned a dangerous Houston parking garage where she was repeatedly assaulted. Evidence revealed that 190 violent crimes were committed near the garage in just the two years before Holder was raped. Abbott acknowledged the garage was unsafe but argued that the company could not have “reasonably foreseen” that a rape would occur at the structure. Abbott’s ruling made it harder for all Texas rape victims to hold property owners accountable.

In 2014, Abbott proudly campaigned closely with the musician Ted Nugent, who notoriously admitted to sexually abusing underage girls and manipulating their parents into giving him access to their daughters. Nugent was so close to Abbott that he called the then-attorney general his “blood brother.”

In 2015, Abbott promised to overhaul Texas Child Protective Services (CPS), but an investigation by the Dallas Morning News revealed that Abbott made things worse. More Texas children died of abuse and neglect AFTER Abbott got involved. Public documents revealed gruesome child deaths, relentless caseworker turnover, and dangerous case backlogs. The consensus is that many deaths could have been prevented had Abbott’s team acted swiftly and competently.

Thousands of Texas kids have been beaten, abused and exploited by human sex traffickers during Abbott’s time as governor. A report from the Texas Tribune in 2017 detailed horrific accounts of young children who were captured and forced into sex trafficking against their will. Abbott campaigned on the issue, claiming it was one of his “key issues,” but evidence shows resources are still limited and action has been underwhelming in helping victims or reducing crime.

This year, a court monitor’s report showed that Abbott’s office knew for months that foster children were being illegally housed in an emergency shelter cited hundreds of times for dangerous conditions — but failed to report the violation to court-appointed watchdogs tasked with monitoring the state’s foster care system.

Now, under Greg Abbott, vigilantes can be paid bounties for reporting anywoman seeking an abortion and anyone who helped her. The bounty applies to any woman who has been pregnant 6 weeks – which is usually only two weeks after a woman learns that she’s pregnant. The new Abbott-backed law provides NO exceptions for rape or incest.

Abbott also refused to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which would require Texas women be paid the same amount as men for doing the same or equal work.

And despite outcries from medical professionals, school officials, and youth advocates, Abbott is putting the lives of kids, teachers, and others involved in public education at deadly risk by forbidding vaccine and mask requirements.

Texans Smash Voting Record (w/o Election Day Count)!

The chart above shows the total number of voters that voted in presidential elections in Texas. The record number of voters was set in 2016, when 8,969,226 people voted.

That record has already been surpassed, and we haven't even gotten to Election Day yet. According to the office of the Texas Secretary of State, 8,698,233 people voted early in person and 971,013 mail-in ballots have been received. That's a total of 9,669,246 people who have already voted -- hundreds of thousands more than the old record for total votes. And when the Election Day voters are added, the old record will be surpassed by several million.

I don't know who those people voted for, but it's obvious that Texans are enthusiastic about voting this year.

 

Texas Close To A Record Turnout For A Presidential Election

The chart above shows the total votes in Texas for each of the last five presidential elections. The voting record was set in 2016, when 8,969,226 Texans voted.

In the first 16 days of 18 days of early voting, 8,449,858 people have voted (7,543,806 in person and 906,772 by mail). That's only about 520,000 votes short of the record -- and there are two more days of early voting, and mail-in ballots continue to arrive. 

By the time Election Day votes are added, Texas will have smashed the old record for voting in a presidential election

The numbers are from the office of the Texas Secretary of State. 

 

Texas Is Headed For A Record Election Turnout This Year

 

In the first 14 of 18 days of early voting in Texas, 6,925,900 people have voted in person and 877,690 mail-in ballots have been received. That makes 7,803,590 votes that have already been cast in this election.

That's only about 1.1 million votes short of the total 2016 election votes (which was a record for a presidential election in Texas). With 4 more days of early voting, mail-in ballots continuing to arrive, and Election Day voters yet to be counted, it undoubtably will be a record voter turnout in the state for this election.

Temperature Tops 100 F INSIDE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE!

We haven't heard much in the news about global warming lately. Other things have pushed it out of the headlines -- like a failed U.S. presidency, the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic recession, and an impending election. Those things are important (and should be covered by the news), but global climate change may be even more important -- and it's still getting worse. If we don't do something about it soon, it may be too late to stop global devastation.

Now we learn of something unheard of since temperatures have been recorded -- a town inside the Arctic Circle has recorded a temperature of 100.4 F (38 C). Here is how that significant (and frightening) event was reported by the Associated Press:

The Arctic is feverish and on fire — at least parts of it are. And that’s got scientists worried about what it means for the rest of the world.

The thermometer hit a likely record of 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Russian Arctic town of Verkhoyansk on Saturday, a temperature that would be a fever for a person — but this is Siberia, known for being frozen. The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday that it’s looking to verify the temperature reading, which would be unprecedented for the region north of the Arctic Circle.

“The Arctic is figuratively and literally on fire — it’s warming much faster than we thought it would in response to rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and this warming is leading to a rapid meltdown and increase in wildfires,” University of Michigan environmental school dean Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist, said in an email.

“The record warming in Siberia is a warning sign of major proportions,” Overpeck wrote.

Much of Siberia had high temperatures this year that were beyond unseasonably warm. From January through May, the average temperature in north-central Siberia has been about 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) above average, according to the climate science non-profit Berkeley Earth.

“That’s much, much warmer than it’s ever been over that region in that period of time,” Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said.

There Are A Record Number Of Hate Groups In The U.S.

The chart above is from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC keeps track of hate groups in the United States. Their latest count show the number of hate groups has reached a record level -- currently there are 1020 of them.

The old record was 1018 -- during the Obama administration. At that time, hate groups blossomed in response to the country electing its first Black president. The country's racists (and there are still a lot of them) were horrified and terrified that the country had elected Barack Obama -- and that reaction saw a number of new hate groups created.

This new resurgence of hate groups is different though. They are not terrified about Donald Trump. They consider him one of their own -- a racist and xenophobe. They heard him when he called them "good people", and they no longer think of themselves as outliers to society. This record number of hate groups are not opposing the government these days. They are supporting it, and actually consider themselves a part of it.

Donald Trump has provided cover for those promoting hate in this country, and they are rewarding him with their support.

U.S. National Debt Reaches $23 Trillion For The First Time

When Donald Trump and the Republicans passed their tax cuts for the rich, they said it would boost the economy and actually increase government revenues (bringing down the deficit). Of course, it wasn't true. That's just the lie Republicans tell every time they want to reward the rich with a tax cut.

It actually ballooned the deficit to about a trillion dollars a year, and it increased the national debt to a new record. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal national debt has reached $23 trillion. If the Republicans stay in power, we can expect that debt to grow by at least a trillion dollars a year for the next few years.

You Suffered Through 8 Years Of Obama? Here's The Truth!

Right-wingers say they had to suffer through 8 years of the Obama administration. Suffer? Here's the truth about that "suffering" from Teri Carter at Teri Carter's Library:

The sentence I hear most from well-meaning, conservative friends since President Trump’s election is this: “We suffered 8 years under Barack Obama.”

Fair enough. Let’s take a look.

The day Obama took office, the Dow closed at 7,949 points. Eight years later, the Dow had almost tripled.

General Motors and Chrysler were on the brink of bankruptcy, with Ford not far behind, and their failure, along with their supply chains, would have meant the loss of millions of jobs. Obama pushed through a controversial, $8o billion bailout to save the car industry. The U.S. car industry survived, started making money again, and the entire $80 billion was paid back, with interest.

While we remain vulnerable to lone-wolf attacks, no foreign terrorist organization has successfully executed a mass attack here since 9/11.

Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden.

He drew down the number of troops from 180,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan to just 15,000, and increased funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He launched a program called Opening Doors which, since 2010, has led to a 47 percent decline in the number of homeless veterans.

He set a record 73 straight months of private-sector job growth.

Due to Obama’s regulatory policies, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 12%, production of renewable energy more than doubled, and our dependence on foreign oil was cut in half.

He signed The Lilly Ledbetter Act, making it easier for women to sue employers for unequal pay.

His Omnibus Public Lands Management Act designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, creating thousands of miles of trails and protecting over 1,000 miles of rivers.

He reduced the federal deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2009 to 3.2 percent in 2016.

For all the inadequacies of the Affordable Care Act, we seem to have forgotten that, before the ACA, you could be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition and kids could not stay on their parents’ policies up to age 26.

Obama approved a $14.5 billion system to rebuild the levees in New Orleans.

All this, even as our own Mitch McConnell famously asserted that his singular mission would be to block anything President Obama tried to do.

While Obama failed on his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, that prison’s population decreased from 242 to around 50.

He expanded funding for embryonic stem cell research, supporting groundbreaking advancement in areas like spinal injury treatment and cancer.

Credit card companies can no longer charge hidden fees or raise interest rates without advance notice.

Most years, Obama threw a 4th of July party for military families. He held babies, played games with children, served barbecue, and led the singing of “Happy Birthday” to his daughter Malia, who was born on July 4.

Welfare spending is down: for every 100 poor families, just 24 receive cash assistance, compared with 64 in 1996.

Obama comforted families and communities following more than a dozen mass shootings. After Sandy Hook, he said, “The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.”

Yet, he never took away anyone’s guns.

He sang Amazing Grace, spontaneously, at the altar.

He was the first president since Eisenhower to serve two terms without personal or political scandal.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Obama was not perfect, as no man and no president is, and you can certainly disagree with his political ideologies. But to say we suffered? If that’s the argument, if this is how we suffered for 8 years under Barack Obama, I have one wish: may we be so fortunate as to suffer 8 more.

Trump's Average Job Approval Is At A Record Low

These two charts are from RealClearPolitics. The top chart shows all of the most recent polls on Donald Trump's job approval. It also gives the average of all those polls. The bottom chart shows that job approval average since Trump was sworn in.

Note that Trump's current job approval is at a record low of 39.7%, and his job disapproval is at a record high of 54.7%.

This is tearing Trump up, since his narcissism demands that he be viewed as popular and doing a great job. Unfortunately, for him, he is presiding over a White House in chaos -- and he keeps shooting himself in the foot with his tweets and statements. In addition, he continues to push an agenda that most Americans don't like -- and he continues to lie about that agenda (and nearly everything else).

If this continues (and there's no reason to believe it won't), Trump could well leave office as the most unpopular president in modern times -- making even Bush II and Nixon look good by comparison.

Democrats Set New Record In Off-Year Election Fundraising

(This image of the Democratic Party donkey is by DonkeyHotey.)

The following is from an NBC News article by Alex Seitz-Wald:

House Democrats have already raised more money in online contributions this year ahead of the midterms than they did during all of 2015, the most recently comparable year, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee official told NBC News. 

The unusual fundraising haul is the latest sign that President Donald Trump is motivating Democrats in extraordinary ways as the party looks to win back the 24 seats it needs to retake the House of Representatives in next year's midterm elections and put Rep. Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker's chair. 

The DCCC raised $20 million in online contributions since the start of the year from contributions averaging just $18, according to the group, beating the $19.7 million the committee raised during 2015, the last off-year ahead of an election year. 

The campaign arm of House Democrats said more than 2.2 million people joined the committee's grassroots email lists since the beginning of January, including 156,00 new donors.

Texas Sets A New Record In Early Voting In 2016

Early voting is now over in Texas, but even in this red state (which most believe is sure to go for Trump) there is a lot of interest -- enough to set a new early voting record. The charts above were made with information from the office of the Texas Secretary of State (which supervises voting in the state).

The top chart shows the number of early voters in the largest 15 counties of the state, and the bottom chart shows the percentage of registered voters who cast an early vote in those counties. Note that both the number of voters and percentage of voters easily eclipsed the 2008 figures (the year in which the previous record was set).

These 15 counties have 9,759,797 of the state's 14, 238,436 registered voters (about 68.6% of all Texas registered voters). Looking at them can be a very good gauge of what's happening statewide.

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Here in Potter County, 18,415 people voted early -- about 33.5% of the 55,011 registered voters. That is a record turnout.

Randall County also had a record turnout with 40,637 people voting early -- about 50.5% of the 81,190 registered voters. A record turnout.

NOTE -- The city of Amarillo is in both Potter and Randall counties.

Texas Sets A New Record In Registered Voters

Some political pundits are telling us that the voters are turned off by this election, and the presidential candidates each party has chosen. The chart above shows that is simply not true.

The state of Texas has set a new record in the number of registered voters. The current tally is 15,100,824. That's a jump in registration of 1,454,598 (about 11%). And that's not a normal increase in registered voters. The number in 2012 was only 71,164 over 2008 (a rise of only 0.005%).

Whatever voters may think of the candidates, they are paying extraordinary attention to this election, and I believe there will be a huge turnout this year -- probably a record turnout.

Romney's Record Is Too Poor To Run On

The picture above (from Think Progress) shows a very telling statistic. While 70% of President Obama's ads have been positive ads, the same is not true of his opponent. Over 73% of the ads for Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) have been negative ads attacking the president. The reason for this is pretty obvious.

While the president has not been able to do everything he wanted to do (largely because of the Republican obstructionism), he has been able to put together a pretty respectable list of accomplishments (health care reform, Lily Ledbetter Act for fair pay, Wall Street reform, stimulus bill, tax cut for working Americans, etc.). In other words, the president has a very respectable record that he can run on.

The same is not true of Romney. During his tenure at Bain Capital, he was far more a job destroyer than a job creator -- and the money he made was for only a few rich men. But it cannot be said that he improved the country or its economy. And during his term as governor of Massachusetts, he had an even worse record. Think Progress has a list of 5 facts about the Massachusetts economy under the governorship of Romney. Here is that list (of what has to be considered failures):

1) Its job growth was poor: Despite Romney’s professed expertise in creating jobs, Massachusetts ranked 47th in job growth during his time as governor. The state’s total job growth was just 0.9 percent, well behind other high-wage, high-skill economies in New York (2.7), California (4.7), and North Carolina (7.6). The national average, meanwhile, was better than 5 percent.


2) Its labor force declined: Only Louisiana, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, saw a bigger decline in its labor force than Massachusetts during Romney’s tenure as governor. That decline largely explains the state’s decreasing unemployment rate (from 5.6 to 4.7 percent) while Romney was in office, according to Northeastern University economics professor Andrew Sum. At the same time, the nation as a whole added 8 million people to the labor force.


3) It lost manufacturing jobs at twice the national rate: Massachusetts lost 14 percent of its manufacturing jobs during Romney’s time in office, according to Sum. The loss was double the rate that the nation as a whole lost manufacturing jobs. In 2004, Romney vetoed legislation that would have banned companies doing business with the state from outsourcing jobs to other countries.


4) It was “below average,” “often near the bottom”: “There was not one measure where the state did well under his term in office. We were below average and often near the bottom,” Sum told the Washington Post in February. As a result, the state was more comparable to Rust Belt states like Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio than it was to other high-tech economies it typically competes with.


5) It piled on more debt than any state: Romney left Massachusetts residents with $10,504 in per capita bond debt, the highest of any statein the nation when he left office in 2007. The state ranked second in debt as a percentage of personal income. Romney regularly omits those statistics from his Massachusetts record, instead touting the fact that he balanced the state’s budget (he was constitutionally required to do so). He wouldn’t be much different as president: his proposed tax plan adds more than $10 trillion to the national debt.

DFW Metroplex Temperature Is Record High In 2006

The National Weather Service office in Fort Worth says the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex set a new record for high temperature during 2006. The average high temperature for the year was 80.4 degrees.

This was the first time since temperatures began to be recorded over a hundred years ago, that the average temperature was over 80 degrees. The previous record was 79.5 degrees.

The average mean temperature, which is the average of all the year's high and low temperatures, also set a new record high at 69.3 degrees. The previous highs were in 1999 [68.6] and 1998 [68.3].

Also, recently, the entire island of Lohachara, in India's Bay of Bengal, has been swallowed up by rising ocean waters. The island, once home to 10,000 people, simply doesn't exist anymore.

The U.S. government has started the process to have the polar bear declared an endangered species. This is due to the melting of the ice in it's natural enviornment.

The 25.5 mile Ayles arctic ice shelf in Canada has broken off and set adrift. Again, this is due to the warming of the arctic region. This ice shelf was believed to be over 3,000 years old. Scientists are predicting the Arctic Sea's summer ice will be completely gone before 2040.

And still, the idiot we currently have in the White House does not believe that global warming is happening, and is being created by humans pumping ever more greenhouse gases into our air. Of course, many of his Republican buddies agree with him. If they admitted global warming was real, then they would have to demand their rich contributors actually spend some money to control pollution.

Obviously, campaign contributions are more important than mankind's future to these Republicans.