Meanwhile, Texas

[Brian Peacock]

[Sean Hayden]

We are no longer able to provide surgical abortion or Abortion Pill. We are able to provide Ultrasounds and referrals for abortions out of state.

Before seeing this I emailed the Houston clinic to ask how we might protect access. I think we should be willing to keep these places open. Simply protesting is not enough.

[Brian Peacock]

Betya there's a community action group with the same idea Sean. And if there isn't then... well ... how much free time do you have?

[Sean Hayden]

It's a lot to ask of people.

[Brian Peacock]

It is, but a few bungled back-street abortions can be a great social motivator - unfortunately.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Nasty meddling Feds. Interfering with God's work.

'A Texas superintendent ordered librarians to remove LGBTQ-themed books. Now the federal government is investigating.'

The U.S. Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm has launched an investigation into a North Texas school district whose superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove LGBTQ-themed library books.

Education and legal experts say the federal probe of the Granbury Independent School District — which stemmed from a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and reporting by NBC News, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune — appears to be the first such investigation explicitly tied to the nationwide movement to ban school library books dealing with sexuality and gender.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights notified Granbury school officials on Dec. 6 that it had opened the investigation following a July complaint by the ACLU, which accused the district of violating a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender. The ACLU complaint was based largely on an investigation published in March by NBC News, ProPublica and the Tribune that revealed that Granbury’s superintendent, Jeremy Glenn, instructed librarians to remove books dealing with sexual orientation and people who are transgender.

“I acknowledge that there are men that think they’re women and there are women that think they’re men,” Glenn told librarians in January, according to a leaked recording of the meeting obtained, verified and published exclusively by the news outlets. “I don’t have any issues with what people want to believe, but there’s no place for it in our libraries.”

Later in the meeting, Glenn clarified that he was specifically focused on removing books geared toward queer students: “It’s the transgender, LGBTQ and the sex — sexuality — in books,” he said, according to the recording.

[Brian Peacock]

Free speech is all about having the right to ban the books you don't like.

[Tero]

Evil government gave Obamacare patients free check ups!

An ObamaCare requirement that health insurance must cover preventive services for free is at risk of ending, after a federal judge in Texas — who previously held that the entire Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional — invalidated it.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor wasn’t entirely unexpected, but his decision to impose a nationwide injunction still sent shockwaves through the health system. The preventive services mandate is extremely popular and ending it could impact more than100 million Americans.

Here are five things to know about the ruling.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Onward, Christian soldiers.

'Public schools would have to display Ten Commandments under bill passed by Texas Senate'

Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom starting next school year under a bill the Texas Senate approved Thursday.

Senate Bill 1515 by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, now heads to the House for consideration.

This is the latest attempt from Texas Republicans to inject religion into public schools. In 2021, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican, authored a bill that became law requiring schools to display donated “In God We Trust” signs.

King said during a committee hearing earlier this month that the Ten Commandments are part of American heritage and it’s time to bring them back into the classroom. He said the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for his bill after it sided with Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Washington state who was fired for praying at football games. The court ruled that was praying as a private citizen, not as an employee of the district.

“[The bill] will remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America,” King said during that hearing.

The Senate also gave final passage to Senate Bill 1396, authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, which would allow public and charter schools to adopt a policy requiring every campus to set aside a time for students and employees to read the Bible or other religious texts and to pray.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement that both bills are wins for religious freedom in Texas.

It seems likely that the current US Supreme Court with its 'conservative' supermajority will affirm this on 'religious freedom' grounds.

[JimC]

I suppose one could, at a stretch, see that allowing a school (or an individual teacher) to choose to display the Ten Commandments could rest on 'religious freedom' grounds. However, making it mandatory surely breaches the supposed divide between church and state in the US...

[Svartalf]

Onward, Christian soldiers.

'Public schools would have to display Ten Commandments under bill passed by Texas Senate'

Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom starting next school year under a bill the Texas Senate approved Thursday.

Senate Bill 1515 by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, now heads to the House for consideration.

This is the latest attempt from Texas Republicans to inject religion into public schools. In 2021, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican, authored a bill that became law requiring schools to display donated “In God We Trust” signs.

King said during a committee hearing earlier this month that the Ten Commandments are part of American heritage and it’s time to bring them back into the classroom. He said the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for his bill after it sided with Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Washington state who was fired for praying at football games. The court ruled that was praying as a private citizen, not as an employee of the district.

“[The bill] will remind students all across Texas of the importance of the fundamental foundation of America,” King said during that hearing.

The Senate also gave final passage to Senate Bill 1396, authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, which would allow public and charter schools to adopt a policy requiring every campus to set aside a time for students and employees to read the Bible or other religious texts and to pray.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement that both bills are wins for religious freedom in Texas.

It seems likely that the current US Supreme Court with its 'conservative' supermajority will affirm this on 'religious freedom' grounds.

So will they also be forced to display the muslim Shahada, buddhist scriptrures and satanist writings?

[Svartalf]

I suppose one could, at a stretch, see that allowing a school (or an individual teacher) to choose to display the Ten Commandments could rest on 'religious freedom' grounds. However, making it mandatory surely breaches the supposed divide between church and state in the US...

Not even, a person displaying religious propaganda elsewhere than on its own person, is abusing his authority and thereby 'establishing' the religion in the meaning of the 1st amendment

[JimC]

So, perhaps we will see a constitutional challenge to this Texan crap...

[macdoc]

Yeah - faint hope on the slide to theocracy

[Svartalf]

The funny side, is how, when the chretins believe they have their perfect theocracy, they'll get caught up in a holy war against the cat'licks, the muslim, the vooodoo folk, and possibly any more religions as are in this country, and if they offend the Sikh, I'm not betting on them prods, they have big guns but no lesser skill