Summary

The article discusses the passage of a restrictive abortion law in Texas, SB8, which is seen as a move towards an American version of Sharia Law, with significant implications for individual freedoms and governance.

Abstract

Texas Governor Greg Abbot has signed into law a bill that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with the only exception being a medical complication that endangers the mother's life. This law, which is enforced by private citizens rather than the state, allows individuals to sue anyone who assists in an abortion after the detected electrical activity in the embryo, offering a bounty of $10,000 for successful lawsuits. Critics argue that this law is a form of religious tyranny, disproportionately affecting the poor and minorities, and represents a broader trend of the Republican Party's efforts to consolidate power within a corporate-controlled America. The article suggests that this legislation is part of a strategy to appeal to conservative voters and donors, with the ultimate goal of increasing the state's population to benefit corporate interests and ensure economic growth. The law is also seen as a step towards a more autocratic form of governance, with parallels drawn to the enforcement mechanisms used in countries like China.

Opinions

The author views the Texas abortion law as an infringement on women's rights and an imposition of a specific religious belief on the general population.
The law is seen as a calculated political move by Governor Abbot to position himself as a strong contender for the presidency by appealing to the conservative base.
The article suggests that the law will create societal discord, pitting citizens against each other and leading to the erosion of trust and relationships.
There is a critique of the Supreme Court's inaction on the law, implying a failure to uphold constitutional rights.
The author argues that the law is part of a larger agenda to maintain a steady stream of consumers and workers to support corporate interests, rather than genuine concern for human life.
The article expresses concern that Texas is moving towards a form of governance that prioritizes power and profit over the welfare of its citizens, with potential future implications including the erosion of civil liberties and the enforcement of draconian laws.
The author draws a parallel between the Texas law and Sharia Law, suggesting that both systems involve the imposition of religious beliefs into state law, which can lead to oppressive societal control.

Texas Gallops Toward an American Version of Sharia Law

No arrests being made yet, but maybe some people should keep a ‘go bag’ well stocked

Fueled by a race between Florida and Texas governors to see who can be the most tyrannical Trump-like presidential contender, Texas Governor Greg Abbot has passed a law to enforce a right wing Evangelical Christian belief targeting women while they are in a vulnerable condition.

The law forbids abortions after electrical activity is detected in the developing cardiovascular nerve tissue about six weeks into pregnancy. The only exception after this point is a medical complication making death likely for the expectant mother if the pregnancy continues.

The ‘fetal heartbeat’ this law talks about has nothing to do with a beating heart in the fetus. In an adult, the heartbeat we hear is the physical opening and closing of valves, no electricity involved. When an ultrasound is used on a fetus at about six weeks, the machine makes an electronically programmed sound because it detects a slight electrical activity. There are no valves or beating heart.

Once the pregnancy reaches this stage, anyone assisting that pregnant woman to get an abortion (advice, information, transportation, etc.) can be sued by any other person in the state of Texas. If the law suit is successful, the state of Texas pays all lawyers fees, court costs, and a bounty of $10,000 to the plaintiff.

If the defendant wins, they still have to pay lawyers fees and court costs. This law will affect the poor, teenagers, and minorities the most. As usual, the wealthy will only be inconvenienced.

Think of the Machiavellian horrors this will unleash on society as neighbors betray neighbors, friends turn in friends, and relatives snitch on relatives. The resulting reprisals and recriminations will destroy relationships for decades.

This unconstitutional insertion of religious beliefs and sexist discrimination into government is a milestone in the degeneration of freedom and sane government. Just one of many accomplishments by the Republican Party in its mission to become the sole arbiter of power within a corporate controlled country.

The supreme dispenser of justice of the land, created by Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, has not said ‘no.’ The supposedly incorruptible Supreme Court says they are going to let this law go forward.

Perhaps they are stymied by a clever and insidious twist to this law. It is not enforced by the state of Texas, as you would assume. It is enforced by the citizens of Texas when they sue someone breaking this law. In many, if not all, cases the prosecutor is in expectation of a remunerative award (the $10,000 and court case costs) from the state for success in that prosecution.

This is something a South American dictator or Vladimir Putin might come up with, not the governor of a state of the United States. Texas is on its way to becoming another Afghanistan. As far as I know, we are still lacking roving bands of terrorists growing patches of opium poppies in the mountains of West Texas.

I suggest women of child-bearing age evacuate now before another Hamid Karzai International Airport type fiasco takes shape.

Biblical references to the subject of abortion lean toward women not having children in their service to God. That has long since been corrupted and perverted by Catholicism and wealthy conservatives into the current view sustained by many right-wing evangelical Christians that life in the womb is sacrosanct.

But why would wealthy conservatives back such a thing? They are taking a cue from Catholicism where a ban on abortions has insured a steady stream of new Catholics. This is never talked about in the open, but the people that own America have a conflict of interest when it comes to abortion rights.

The wealthy need an ever increasing population to insure a steady stream of consumers to keep their corporations profitable and growing — to keep the gross domestic product climbing. A stagnant or declining consumer base is the death knell of economic expansion, a situation corporations want to avoid at all costs. So they use their massive propaganda machines to manipulate a vulnerable segment of the population into this radical belief. You will see a few CEOs at least pretend to be horrified by anti-abortion laws and threaten reprisals to the states enacting them. Who knows? Some of them may be sincere. An underlying reality begs to differ.

The Texas governor’s schemes, however, go way beyond corporations’ long term plans for profitability. He wants power, and he wants it now. He is trying to out-Trump the Trumpster himself in making his own bid to be the next president of the United States.

That is why he is making it hard for the poor and minorities to vote. He is also appealing to Trump’s white voter base by banning the teaching of the real history of slavery. He labels it ‘Critical Race Theory’, but there is no such thing taught in grades one through twelve. What is taught now will be replaced by slavery-lite wherein slave owners were benign in the care of their slaves if it is mentioned at all. There will be nothing in the teachings to rile one race against another. There will be no mention that Texas rebelled against Mexico because it wanted to keep slavery, which Mexico banned. That we were the bad guys at the Alamo is to be kept secret.

Mask mandates and vaccine passes are illegal in Texas. He is in step with Florida Governor DeSantis in having gullible Republicans march maskless and unvaccinated into a sea of deadly disease, relying on nothing but faith in their political leaders. Like fundamentalist Christian snake handlers, these poor, deluded souls will often get bitten and die.

This is the Texas version of Sharia Law, so there won’t be any burqas required. But who is to say what Biblical phantasmagoria might come about. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth might be codified. After awhile, someone will point out it is such a waste of organs. Perhaps it would be better just to medically harvest the appropriately criminalized organ for the benefit of the public, especially the wealthy and politically connected portions of the public.

Soon, police forces will be asked to strictly enforce all laws on the books and fill the jails with a crop of organ donors that will keep the rich and powerful alive at the expense of the poor and powerless. Since everyone in Texas can legally carry a gun, many of these encounters will wind up in injuries and deaths quickly transported to hospitals for lawful organ harvesting without that pesky, expensive jail time.

Do you think this is beyond reason? Do you think this is some sci-fi dystopian fantasy? It is already happening in China.

This has gone beyond politics. We are experiencing raw grabs for power unleashed by the example of Donald Trump’s cartoon presidency. The amoral reptilian brain functions of the likes of Abbott and DeSantis have taken over their more lofty cerebral processes, eliminating the need for such abstract things as logic, reason, equality, empathy, and justice.

I worry about my fellow Texans, my friends, and my family getting caught up in this shit-storm of political savagery. Texas is becoming a state where it’s just you, your gun, and your horse that you can count on. And I’m getting suspicious of my horse.