Gov. Greg Abbott, still clinging pathetically to Donald Trump’s invisible coattails, has called a halt to future plans for re-opening Texas and laying out a bigger Yea Covid 19! welcome mat.

In case you haven’t heard, Texas is drowning in virus.  Our ICU units are filled to capacity, elective surgery is halted, and the Governor wants you to wash your hands.

“This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business,” Abbott said. “I ask all Texans to do their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 by wearing a mask, washing their hands regularly, and socially distancing from others.”

Are you freekin’ kidding me?  That is exactly what got us here.

Look, Greg, let’s chat.  Texas is the home of conspiracy nuts. Remember Branch Davidians?  Jade Helm mean anything to you?  Oh hell, I forgot, you fell for that Russian troll conspiracy yourownself.  Greg, when you tell people that Texas is fine, you just encourage the anti-maskers to go out and kiss each other.  You and your Lt Governor don’t wear a mask.  You’re not helping.

We’re not fine, Greg, and we are not fine because you have failed us.

Forgive me, customers, but I needed to explode this morning. “Temporary pause?” Really? When you are driving the wrong direction a temporary pause is still not going to get you to the swimming hole.

Well, Greg Abbott stands by his man – Donald Trump.

The Dean of the Baylor College of Medicine Tropical Disease Department just had this to say —

Greg Abbott

Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean of the School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s John Berman that the current situation in Texas represents the “greatest public health failure in the history of the nation,” and he warned that it will spiral out of control very quickly.

He says that the rise in cases is going up almost vertically. Hotez also said the state should consider going back into “full lockdown to get the spread of the virus back under control.”

But Greg Abbott still won’t issue a facemask rule because it’s communist or some damn thing.  We’ve got seatbelt rules and helmet rules in Texas but God forbid we do something that Donald Trump doesn’t do.

Trump wanted something that’s the greatest in the history of America?  Well, he’s got it.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

If you didn’t watch the hearing, you missed this kindergarten class.

It starts at about the one minute mark.  He bangs on the table, y’all.

Mike Pence. Today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSj9vnIZPSg

They will never be able to navigate an incline again.

You know that every step he was thinking, “don’t slip, don’t slip, don’t slip,” but it was too late because we got into their heads.

Thanks to Kary for the heads up.  

You can live-stream the House Judiciary Committee hearing at NPR.  Click right here.

Aaron Zelinsky, who has worked at the department since 2014, planned to tell the committee that top leadership of the Justice Department leaned on the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Washington, D.C., to go easy on Trump’s friend Roger Stone.

The other witness is John W. Elias, who has worked as a career lawyer at the Justice Department for presidents of both political parties.

Elias described what he calls alleged abuse of power by the department in service of the administration’s political ends — acts serious enough to prompt the lawyer to report them to the inspector general and now, to Congress.

Hey, you’ve got time to watch.  It ain’t like you’re going to Europe or anything.

Okay, Trump appointed members of the US Appeals Court have ordered  federal district court Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the case against Mike Flynn.

It was a surprise ruling and the dissenting judge on a 2 – 1 decision was not taking this stuff with a pleasant smile.

″ This appears  to  be  the  first  time  that  we  have  issued  a  writ  of  mandamus  to  compel  a  district  court  to  rule  in  a  particular  manner  on  a  motion  without  first  giving  the  lower  court  a  reasonable  opportunity  to  issue  its  own  ruling,” Wilkins wrote.

It also appears to be  “the  first  time  any  court  has  held  that  a  district  court  must  grant  “leave  of  court”  pursuant  to  Federal  Rule  of  Criminal  Procedure  48(a)  without even holding a hearing on the merits of the motion;

Oh yeah, let’s just make up law as we go along.  We can call it the Mike Flynn Exception.

I haven’t heard yet if Judge Sullivan is gonna take this without a fight.