On May 2, Governor Abbott celebrated the National Day of Prayer, letting us know that Texans are “notorious prayer warriors, praying for the safety and success of their communities and our state.”
On May 3rd, he wished us all happy #TeacherAppreciationDay and reminded us that his wife, Cecilia, had been a teacher.
That was the day after he spoke at the Texas Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony.
On May 5th he celebrated the #NationalDayofPrayer and spoke about the Biblical Basis of Civil Government.
On May 10th he retweeted the Texas Department of Public Safety describing #OperationLoneStar .
Governor Abbott says that “Texans’ safety and security is our top priority, and we will continue fighting to keep our communities safe.”
On May 12 he tweeted a joint statement with Brandon Judd to demand that President Biden stop sending formula to feed infants in state custody on the border. Because “Children are our most vulnerable, precious Texans and deserve to be put first.”
This was the same day he tweeted about Texas offering “the best opportunities and brightest futures for our students.”
More than 1 in 10 public school children go to school in Texas.
On May 13 Governor Abbott told us about how many busses of people he has sent to Washington D.C. in #OperationLoneStar
On May 15 it was Peace Officers Memorial Day and Week. He says, “The freedom Texans enjoy comes as a result of the brave men and women serving as peace officers across the Lone Star State.”
On May 16, “we recognize and honor the service and sacrifice of our brave law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day for their fellow Texans.”
On May 18th he retweeted the Texas Military Department’s tweet about their awesome naval capabilities.
On May 24, 19 school children and 2 teachers died in a school shooting. There were no boats at all.
On May 26 he held a press conference.
He has not tweeted any of this:
“Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday he was “misled” about what happened in the Uvalde school massacre, causing him to initially share inaccurate information with the public.
“I am livid about what happened,” Abbott said during a news conference in Uvalde, the site of the shooting where a gunman killed 19 students and two adults Tuesday. “The information I was given turned out, in part, to be inaccurate, and I am absolutely livid about that.”
In his first news conference after the shooting, Abbott had praised how police handled the shooting, applauding their “amazing courage.”
“It could have been worse. The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do,” he said Wednesday.
But it came out earlier Friday that police had made a crucial error, waiting to enter a classroom because they believed it was no longer an active-shooter situation. Steve McCraw, the directer of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said it was the “wrong decision, period.”
“It could have been worse,” he said, when the police lied to him about how the children they were charged to protect had died.
In addition to the police’s slow response time to the classroom, authorities had initially said a school resource officer “engaged” the gunman outside. But McCraw also corrected that account earlier Friday, saying the school resource officer was not on campus when the shooter arrived and missed him when he rushed back to school in response to a 911 call. McCraw said he did not know why the school officer was not on site at the time of the shooting.
This is the Republican Party.
“The former president and several other Republican politicians appeared at the event, which happened despite the tragic events in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school. Abbott backed out of his scheduled appearance, instead, appearing in a pre-recorded video and later giving a press conference in Uvalde.
“Unlike some, I didn’t disappoint you by not showing up,” Trump said.
Maybe he referred to the police here. But I doubt it.
The police only have a duty to protect you from harm when you are in custody. We know this because the officer in Parkland faced lawsuits over his failures.
“Budhram argued the students deserved protection under the 14th Amendment right to due process, citing a “clearly established right to be (free) from deliberate indifference to substantial known risks and threats of injury.”
Judge Beth Bloom dismissed the suit in a ruling filed last week.
“The critical question the court analyzes is whether defendants had a constitutional duty to protect plaintiffs from the actions of Cruz,” Bloom wrote. But she determined that “for such a duty to exist on the part of defendants, plaintiffs would have to be considered to be in custody.””
The state also charged him with a crime.
I want to tell you that I believe Governor Abbott. I think that he believed he was prioritizing the safety of Texas citizens in his policies.
They just obviously do not work. After a month of depicting law enforcement as bad asses who make us safe and free, the truth is that the police can choose to save their own children and handcuff you for approaching the school.
And the governor does not think infants in state custody should even have baby formula.
“On May 12 he tweeted a joint statement with Brandon Judd to demand that President Biden stop sending formula to feed infants in state custody on the border. Because “Children are our most vulnerable, precious Texans and deserve to be put first.”
That is the Republican Party.
That is how far their marketing about valuing life is from the reality of living in one of their fiefdoms. The police do not have to save you.
We are only trained to think that they can.
Steve Scalise was shot in 2017.
This is what kind of protection you actually need when someone comes to kill you:
“Three Capitol Police officers were present at the practice to protect Scalise,[23] who, due to his House leadership position, had a full-time security detail assigned to protect him.[24] They were posted behind the first-base dugout on that day.[23][25]”
“Several witnesses said their lives were saved by the presence of the Capitol Police, who were there because of Scalise’s position as the House Majority Whip. The Capitol Police immediately engaged Hodgkinson and kept him pinned down, preventing him from continuing to fire on the unarmed baseball players. Rep. Davis and Sen. Rand Paul separately said that if not for the presence of the officers, the incident “would have been a massacre.”[30][4][31]”
I got news for the police.
The GOP does not have your back either.
President Donald Trump addressed the nation saying, “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the members of Congress, their staffs, Capitol Police, first responders, and all others affected.”[64] President Trump and his wife Melania visited Scalise and Griner in the hospital. While at the hospital, the Trumps spoke with Scalise’s family and with Griner and her wife.[65] On July 27, 2017, Trump awarded the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor to five of the officers who were injured in the shooting.[66]
You are just furniture for them to talk around.
Like our kids.
Our former president was extremely clear about who deserves protection and who does not.
So is the Governor of Florida.
In June 2019, Peterson and Lydia drove over to Asheville and caught an Allegiant Airlines flight to Fort Lauderdale, where he attended a hearing as part of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a statewide agency. He was charged and booked for negligence, a misdemeanor related to perjury, and child neglect, citing the law specific to caregivers. He was then released on bail. The trial is scheduled for this fall. Images of Peterson at his arraignment in handcuffs have already been shared widely.
And so is the Governor of Texas. Even though he doesn’t always make it clear in his tweets, you can still see his priorities.
It’s not the lives of his constituents.
