WTF is Happening in Texas? 666 New Laws in Effect Today

[Poopymonster]

Couldn’t someone, in theory, sue anyone or really any entity for suspicion of this crime? They’d have to defend themselves regardless.

Someome could launch all sorts of scurrilous lawsuits against any entity they didn’t like under the pretense of them braking this law.

Yup. And they'd investigate all of them. That's part of why people were giving false info on the texas snitches website. Like reporting Cruz's wife and kids, Abbot's, and others in the legislature. Even if they don't investigate thoroughly, there should be a mention/report filed about them possibly having an abortion or aiding and abetting.

I'm picturing 2032, "Candidate Cruz, what about this report filed saying your teenage daughter having an abortion in 2021? Did you drive her or your wife?"

[Rasulis]

According to a new poll by PerryUndem, 66% of college-educated workers say they would not take a job in a state that prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as Texas now does after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene on Senate Bill 8. Roughly half of respondents said they would consider moving out of a state that passed such restrictions.

This probably won't have any impact on your typical IT jobs. However, it will definitely have an impact on recruitment for R&D jobs.

[Jastall]

According to a new poll by PerryUndem, 66% of college-educated workers say they would not take a job in a state that prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as Texas now does after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene on Senate Bill 8. Roughly half of respondents said they would consider moving out of a state that passed such restrictions.

This probably won't have any impact on your typical IT jobs. However, it will definitely have an impact on recruitment for R&D jobs.

I definitely see fewer career-oriented women in particular (and by association their SOs) wanting to move there now that the place has made it damn near impossible to get an abortion. Unwanted pregnancies aren't exactly their jam.

EDIT: @Edge- ; Honestly the whole setup sounds like a lawyer's wet dream. Tons of suing and counter-suing for everyone! Meanwhile the rights of women suffer. And to think tort reform and frivolous lawsuits were supposed to be a Republican talking point.

[Xyonai]

According to a new poll by PerryUndem, 66% of college-educated workers say they would not take a job in a state that prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as Texas now does after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene on Senate Bill 8. Roughly half of respondents said they would consider moving out of a state that passed such restrictions.

This probably won't have any impact on your typical IT jobs. However, it will definitely have an impact on recruitment for R&D jobs.

The rumblings I've seen around online - whether genuine or fictitious - have been Cons praising this as a good thing because it keeps the 'Liberals from infecting our good ol' red states with their shitty policies' (Paraphrasing).

[RaoBurning]

I will never fucking understand the conservative mind. There's really nothing there beyond a deep uncontrollable urge to punch down, torment people and just to make the world an all around shitty place. It's like fucking psychotic children pulling wings off flies or torturing kittens for shits and giggles.

As long as they can punch down, it means they're not on the bottom yet. With nothing else going on, that's a win for them. I guess. Still horrid.

[Fugus]

The rumblings I've seen around online - whether genuine or fictitious - have been Cons praising this as a good thing because it keeps the 'Liberals from infecting our good ol' red states with their shitty policies' (Paraphrasing).

And yet their policies turn their entire states into welfare queens relying on those liberal states to pay their bills.

[Edge-]

https://www.nprillinois.org/statehou...ed-pregnancies

Two weeks after Texas effectively banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a Democratic state lawmaker in Illinois is proposing a law based on Texas’ model — but turned on its head.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), who in 2019 sponsored law defining abortion as a fundamental right in Illinois, is introducing a bill dubbed the “EXpanding Abortion Services Act,” the acronym of which spells TEXAS.

The Texas law is uniquely designed, allowing private citizens the right to bring a civil lawsuit against anyone who performs an abortion, gets an abortion or aids in someone getting an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Opponents of the law have described the minimum $10,000 in damages up for grabs as a “bounty.”

Cassidy’s proposal instead would instead give Illinoisans the right to seek at least $10,000 in damages against anyone who causes an unwanted pregnancy — even if it resulted from consensual sex — or anyone who commits sexual assault or abuse, including domestic violence.

“If folks are policing the bodies of people who are seeking reproductive healthcare in Texas, well, then maybe we should be policing the bodies of the people who are causing those problems here in Illinois,” Cassidy told NPR Illinois.

Under Cassidy’s bill, half of the damages awarded would go toward a new “State Abortion Freedom Access Fund,” to be managed by the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services. The money would also be required to be halved even if a case is settled. The fund would be used as financial aid for people from states with limited abortion access to travel to Illinois for the procedure.

...

“There’s certainly an element of ‘hold my beer’ to this, obviously,” Cassidy said. “But the truth here is if this is our new normal, if this is the way that conservatives are going to police women’s bodies, and we as a state have — with a great deal of intentionality — have established ourselves as a safe haven, we also…have to figure out a way to manage that.”

Welp, it's sure serving as a blueprint...though I'm not sure it's the Blueprint that Republicans were hoping for.

This is what happens when you're morally and intellectually bankrupt, and all too happy to go to extremes to try to get what you want. You open a Pandora's Box of stupidity.

[Rasulis]

The rumblings I've seen around online - whether genuine or fictitious - have been Cons praising this as a good thing because it keeps the 'Liberals from infecting our good ol' red states with their shitty policies' (Paraphrasing).

California governors were not the ones coming to Texas begging people and businesses to come to California.

My brother-in-law, bless his soul, used to say "People who can't hack it in San Francisco go to Austin."

[Mihalik]

The cruelty is the point. It isn't to achieve some noble goal, it's always in pursuit of some greater cruelty. There is no exception that I have seen, at this point. I used to try and give them a lot more benefit of the doubt, assuming there must have been something I wasn't seeing, but the last 5 years or so have really ripped that blindfold right off, as they've stopped pretending.

Yeah. My feelings towards conservatives shifted as well, a lot, over the last 5ish years.

I also spent much of 2015 to 2018, especially 2016 to 2018 trying to rationalize what we were seeing. In the US and in Europe. Economic anxiety or whatnot, differing moral priorities etc.

I still often say, I really truly owe Hillary Clinton an apology, I was one of those people who dogpiled on her for the whole "deplorables" comment thing, she was right tho. It was an accurate and succinct description of the average Republican voter.

There's nothing there, no values, no principles, no morality, nothing. No redeeming qualities. Just shitty people being emboldened to finally show their true colors.

[Edge-]

I still often say, I really truly owe Hillary Clinton an apology, I was one of those people who dogpiled on her for the whole "deplorables" comment thing, she was right tho. It was an accurate and succinct description of the average Republican voter.

If anything, she was too gentle and underestimated the number. It's not "half" of Trump's supporters, it's functionally the entire Republican party. And seemingly more and more conservative parties across the world too.

[Xyonai]

California governors were not the ones coming to Texas begging people and businesses to come to California.

My brother-in-law, bless his soul, used to say "People who can't hack it in San Francisco go to Austin."

And yet their policies turn their entire states into welfare queens relying on those liberal states to pay their bills.

Oh I never said they were right or even smart for thinking that, but it really goes to show just how thoughtlessly tribalist their mindset can be.

"Forcing Teenagers to Carry their Daddy's Rape Baby to Term to own the libs!"

[s_bushido]

https://www.nprillinois.org/statehou...ed-pregnancies



Welp, it's sure serving as a blueprint...though I'm not sure it's the Blueprint that Republicans were hoping for.

This is what happens when you're morally and intellectually bankrupt, and all too happy to go to extremes to try to get what you want. You open a Pandora's Box of stupidity.

One thing that was pointed out by the lawyer in the video linked earlier is: Since the SCOTUS had no basis for their arbitrary decision re: the Texas law, they would similarly need no basis to reject something like this out of hand.

[Edge-]

One thing that was pointed out by the lawyer in the video linked earlier is: Since the SCOTUS had no basis for their arbitrary decision re: the Texas law, they would similarly need no basis to reject something like this out of hand.

And if they don't, they've now created precedent to rule on the Texas law. It's great how these things can work out if there's an ounce of intellectual consistency.

[Draco-Onis]

And if they don't, they've now created precedent to rule on the Texas law. It's great how these things can work out if there's an ounce of intellectual consistency.

According to him it's not a precedent because it's technically not a ruling but an arbitrary decision so they can create another arbitrary decision to reject a similar law. It's really bad law making and a blatant show of partisan hackery. There is no logic or consistency needed here they are playing it fast and loose.

[Edge-]

a blatant show of partisan hackery.

Amy Coney Barret, channeling her inner Susan Collins, is very concerned that there's a perception that the SCOTUS is filled with partisan hacks. Very. Concerned.

[Draco-Onis]

Amy Coney Barret, channeling her inner Susan Collins, is very concerned that there's a perception that the SCOTUS is filled with partisan hacks. Very. Concerned.

I saw that and couldn't help but laugh the federalist society was specifically created by republicans to put partisan hacks like her on the court. They are doing what they were meant to do all along be partisan hacks.

[Hollycakes]

Her blaming media hot takes was pretty funny.
All they really want is Stepford wives.

And to think I used to be afraid of Romneys magic underwear.
We've come such a long way.

[Slirith]

https://www.nprillinois.org/statehou...ed-pregnancies



Welp, it's sure serving as a blueprint...though I'm not sure it's the Blueprint that Republicans were hoping for.

This is what happens when you're morally and intellectually bankrupt, and all too happy to go to extremes to try to get what you want. You open a Pandora's Box of stupidity.

I can see how women will complain about that law too. "How dare my husband seek damages because I poked a hole in the condom" or like that one story where the wife used her husband's sperm without his permission when he didn't want a child and the state ruled in her favor IIRC

[Flarelaine]

According to a new poll by PerryUndem, 66% of college-educated workers say they would not take a job in a state that prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as Texas now does after the U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene on Senate Bill 8. Roughly half of respondents said they would consider moving out of a state that passed such restrictions.

This probably won't have any impact on your typical IT jobs. However, it will definitely have an impact on recruitment for R&D jobs.

I kinda wonder if driving all those college-educated liberals from Texas slowly turning the state purple was the undeclared intent.

[Breccia]

Governor Abbott said today, when asked about rape victims in the new abortion law, that he plans to eliminate rape in the state of Texas.

This local news source proves Abbott is a liar.

Advocates are asking how Texas will accomplish that feat, especially when it has more than 5,000 rape kits still untested, languishing on shelves around the state? And when there have been as many as 18,000 incidents of rape in the state in a year?

Statistics from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) show that as of August 2021, there were 5,298 untested sexual assault kits, including 1,716 kits within the DPS crime lab system and 3,582 unsubmitted kits that remain with law enforcement agencies across the state.

And that’s not counting the kits that could still be untested at the 231 law enforcement agencies that did not respond to the state audit, although it is required by law.

Now, I get it -- a big state with a big admin probably has a backlog. I'm sure New York does too, but I couldn't find a quick or easy comparison to make.

Just kidding. I'm Chef Fucking Breccia Son, I can cite what the inside of your face looks like. New York is an order of magnitude better, with hundreds not thousands left untested. Oh, that still sucks, but New York isn't the state bragging about eliminating rape, are they?

But back to my point: especially considering half the state just didn't answer the question (Republicans, amirite?) the number is, of course, higher. How much higher we don't know because they didn't fucking answer, but whatever.

Now to be fair to Texas -- more fair than they've proven they deserve -- NYState did have a massive crime problem and went through a big push to update and improve their law enforcement. Yes, Giuliani was involved, no he wasn't crazy then. Texas can, and probably should, do the same. But Abbott's claim rings hollow when he's starting in such a weak position. I'll judge him by his actions when he takes any, but until then, I have to judge him for his inactions.

The only credit I will give Texas is those 18,000 rape cases per year is not that horrible compared to the 20 states that reported to the BJS in 2019. I did struggle to find an up-to-date official source, but if this page is to be believed, Texas is in the "bad, but not that bad" territory in that it's slightly higher than the national average. Yes, that's the credit Abbott has been given but not earned: he's only doing a poor job, not an abysmal one.

It's nowhere near enough to take his "eliminate rapists" statement at face value, that's for sure.