The State of Texas: March 15, 2016

Quote of the Day

“One difference between this and a Trump rally is I’m not asking anyone to punch you in the face.”

– The pacifist Senator Ted Cruz, to a protester who shouted “go back to Canada!” at him during a rally in Illinois yesterday evening.

Daily Roundup

Abbott Claps Back — After President Barack Obama criticized Texas’s voter identification law, claiming the conservative leaders here “aren’t interested in having more people participate” in politics during his visit, Governor Greg Abbott came out swinging at a press conference. “The fact is, voter fraud is rampant,” Abbott said, although it’s unclear exactly how Abbott came to that conclusion. As the Dallas Morning News notes, “there have been more than 80 cases of voter fraud prosecuted in Texas since 2002. Only a handful of those cases involved the kind of in-person voter fraud that Texas’ voter ID law aims to stop.” Before Abbott spoke on Monday, the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a federal lawsuit alleging Texas is violating constitutional rights by “refusing to register eligible voters who submit changes to their driver’s license information with the Texas Department of Public Safety,” according to the Texas Tribune. The executive director of the civil rights group told the Austin American-Statesman that the “voices of thousands of Texans are being silenced each election cycle” because of the driver’s license registration snafu. Apparently, that’s a trade-off Abbott is willing to make if it means he gets to “crack down” on the tiny percentage of fraudulent voters out there.

Questionable Justice — The past few days haven’t been a great look for Texas’s boys in blue. In Houston, law enforcement officers shot three people in separate incidents in one 24-hour stretch spanning Saturday and Sunday, the Houston Chronicle reported on Monday. Two men were killed and another wounded, and all three men were reportedly unarmed. For whatever reason, tasers were ineffective. Sunday evening, a police officer in Addison shot and killed a sixteen-year-old boy. On Monday, an Angelina County Sheriff’s Deputy was placed on administrative leave after he shot and wounded a patient he was transporting to a mental health facility in Lufkin on Friday. According to the Lufkin Daily News, “the deputy pulled over on Highway 19 for an unknown reason. While pulled over, a struggle ensued and the officer shot the client in the torso region.” In other non-lethal-force news, the Fort Worth Police Department is investigating an officer who was caught on video spraying mace at a group of motorcyclists as they drove by, for no clear reason. Not only did the officer nearly cause a massive motorcycle accident, but he also managed to unintentionally mace a pregnant woman sitting in the driver’s seat of the truck he had just pulled over. According to CBSDFW, the officer was removed from patrol duties shortly after a video of the incident went viral on Facebook yesterday.

Scholastic Strip Joint —The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish, because they’re apparently making it rain in a nearby club. In tiny Von Ormy, in southwest Bexar County, there’s now a strip club steps from a school bus stop. The San Antonio Express-News says the small city has fought to keep the newly opened MGM Cabaret out of the area, but the club is soldiering on. According to the business’s Facebook account, it’s the “premier adult entertainment spot where the girls wear high heels and a smile,” from “11 a.m. till [sic] dawn.” But Von Ormy Mayor Trina Reyes certainly isn’t smiling. According to the Express-News, Reyes wanted to amend an existing city ordinance to prohibit MGM from operating within 300 feet of a school bus stop, but her legal advisors told her it wasn’t worth risking a potential lawsuit from the risqué business. Similarly, parents apparently don’t appreciate the extra-curricular educational opportunities the nightclub may offer children. One resident told San Antonio’s KABB: “My kids come and play here, the neighborhood kids play right next door. Who’s to say what they’re going to find on the ground, or what’s going to be going on in the parking lot?” Gross. Also, so much for promoting a well-rounded education.