Tag: Gov. Abbott

South Dakota governor sending National Guard to Mexico border on mission funded by GOP megadonor

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem (R) will deploy up to 50 National Guard troops to the southern U.S. border, her office said Tuesday, with a highly unusual caveat — the mission will be funded by a “private donation” from an out-of-state GOP megadonor billionaire.

The Guard members will deploy in response to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plea to augment border security with law enforcement resources from other states, Noem’s office said in a statement.

Like Abbott (R), Noem is a close ally of former president Donald Trump, whose focus on illegal immigration spurred his controversial deployment of military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border and remains a pillar of the Republican Party’s political platform. In a statement, she blasted the Biden administration over its immigration policies, which Trump and fellow conservatives have denounced as weak and ineffective. Continue reading.

Texas governor signs ‘fetal heartbeat’ abortion bill

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday signed legislation that would ban virtually all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, joining other Republican-led states that have set up legal challenges to the 1973 Supreme Court decision granting a woman’s right to seek an abortion.

The measure Abbott signed would allow most private citizens to sue an abortion provider if they suspect the provider has violated the new ban.

“Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives,” Abbott said in a private bill-signing ceremony Wednesday morning.  Continue reading.

Texas Gov. Abbott says state is ‘very close’ to herd immunity. The data tells a different story.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said “simple math” is behind the recent decline of coronavirus cases in his state: Take the number of people who have been vaccinated and combine it with the number who have been infected. The result, he argued, is something “very close” to herd immunity — the point at which enough of the population is immune that the virus can no longer easily spread.

“We remain very vigilant and guarded and proactive in our response, but there is simple math behind the reason why we continue to have success,” Abbott, a Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.” The equation “means, very simply, it’s a whole lot more difficult for covid-19 to be spreading to other people in the state of Texas.”

Experts have said that immunity from vaccinations and prior infections may have partly contributed to declining cases nationwide after the virus’s winter surge. But in Texas, the numbers Abbott cited don’t add up to herd immunity, according to estimates of that threshold. Continue reading.

Furious Texans revolt after governor gets caught on hot mic admitting his reopen order will worsen the pandemic

AlterNet logoOn Tuesday, leaked audio of a call with state lawmakers revealed that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) admitted his decision to lift lockdowns in Texas will cause more people to be infected with COVID-19.

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BREAKING: As @GovAbbott reopens the state in the midst of a rising infection and death rate, leaked audio from a call with Texas Legislators reveals that he knows reopening puts more Texans at risk.

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Commenters on social media exploded with fury at Abbott’s seeming lack of concern for the health of his constituents. Continue reading.