We returned today for the beginning of teacher orientation. So far, it has gone about as well as can be expected. Judging by the masks, about twenty-five percent are continuing with the mask policies of the past year. As everyone is undoubtedly aware, the governor signed an executive order forbidding districts from having a mask mandate.

Additionally, the legislature did not provide funding for online educations, so most school districts are not offering it. Even those offering it are permitted to add more restrictions this time around. The district where I live enrolls students in their own program, so they are no longer a student at the brick and mortar school.

The district where I work is not allowing it. So, essentially they are not enforcing mask wearing, they will not force students or faculty to get the vaccine, and you cannot learn from home. Additionally, the TEA says that schools do not have to alert parents if someone in the school tests positive, and they do not have to do any contact tracing.

Additionally, students that have been in close proximity to students or faculty that test positive do not have to remain home. Of course, some districts will continue to do what they did last year. Essentially, those districts have made no bones about going against the governor’s ruling and the guidance from the TEA.

I say all that to say this: take a few minutes to check out your local district’s policies as far as your children are concerned. That is especially true for those that have children under twelve. Also, while the governor said that we cannot mandate people to wear masks, we can certainly encourage it and I’d strongly encourage children under twelve to wear masks until such time as all children can safely be vaccinated.

Beyond that, we just have to hope for the best. We also have to remember these times when we vote in 2022. We have to remember that most of our legislators and statewide officials seem more concerned with who goes into what bathroom, who gets to play sports, and whether Cletus can shoot off his big toe. They honestly don’t care whether we live or die.

Everybody is just ganging up on Greg Abbott.

Late last night three of the Texas Democrats holding up in Washington to protect to my voting rights filed papers in court saying that Greg Abbott did not have the power to arrest them if they return to Texas.

“The men and women of the Texas House, many of whom are Black and Brown Democrats, are not animals or property to be corralled by law enforcement and cabined against our will. It is morally wrong to believe otherwise. We will not allow our democracy to devolve into dictatorship,” said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer

State District Judge Brad Urrutia agreed and signed a 3-page order late Sunday that was filed Monday in Travis County District Court. So Greg can just take off his Stalin boots and roll his butt someplace a little calmer and far less smug.

Then to make matters even more embarrassing.  He had his bluff called by the Dallas school superintendent.

Governor Abbott decided that no school in Texas can mandate masks when school starts.  This is particularly troublesome in Texas because the Governor has destroyed our electrical grid to make his friends rich so there’s no way you can depend on a ventilator working if weather happens.

Part of the Governor’s threat to make the schools safe for Covid included a $1,000 fine if a school decides to fight him on it. Dallas schools are mandating masks.

DISD Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa said the would pay the $1,000 fine under Abbott’s executive order out of his own pocket if necessary.

Whacha gonna do, Abbott, go to Dallas and rip masks off of kindergarteners? Governor, Dude, do not take on Dr. Michael Hinojosa because that guy is as tough as a $2 steak.

Hey, Abbott, time to give up and go take a nap.

So there’s a giant fire in California and it looks like the only thing that’s gonna put it out is for Canada to melt and head south.

Firefighters are evacuating homes in the line of fire.

They ain’t going. And you can’t make ‘em.

They are met with people who have guns and [are] saying, ‘Get off my property and you are not telling me to leave,’” he said.

In response to those who flatly refused to evacuate, he said, deputies were asking for next-of-kin information.

Now, here’s what I say.  When people come to the hospital without a COVID vaccine and expect us to break the back of our health care system to help them, it pisses me off.  If you want to stay in a house that’s gonna burn down, do not expect us to come rescue you once the fire is at your door and there’s no escape route.  Give us your kids and then go sit in your kitchen and drink the kool aid.

How dumb do you have to be to shoot somebody risking their lives to save you. Pretty damn dumb.

It was bound to happen, but somehow we are all surprised anyway. The facts on the ground don’t seem to match what is happening in Austin. I know you’re shocked. The largest school district in the state is about to take on the governor and I’m sitting here with popcorn.

They aren’t the only ones. We recently got the electronic message from our local superintendent. They won’t be one of them, but he did manage to throw some shade on the governor before the message was done. It was clear that they likely would have had a mask mandate had there not been an executive order expressly forbidding it.

It is becoming increasingly more difficult not to call the governor an idiot. It is becoming increasingly more difficult not to call anti-vaxxers idiots. I’m not going to try anymore. Peruse social media and they are the jackasses that keep asking you if you’ve done your research on the vaccine. They are the ones that ask you if you’ve accessed the Google machine when the CDC talks about how we should continue to mask up.

They are the ones that spout off “alternative facts” about the vaccine. They probably came from OANN, Newsmax, or Fox News. Maybe they watched a video from the same guy that claimed his pillows cured cancer. At this point I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. I’m sick and tired of being tolerant to nonsense.

There are no acceptable alternative views on this. Not every viewpoint is valid. Somewhere along the lines we somehow confused tolerance and open-mindedness with allowing every jackass with a computer to spout off bullshit that doesn’t make any sense. So, I’m sorry the governor is offended. I’m sorry if local government entities need to treat his little executive order like the toilet paper it is. Actually, I’m not sorry.

Figuratively speaking, he needs to sit down and shut up. Anti-vaxxers need to sit down and shut up. Either you can get the shot or you live in isolation. It is high time we started requiring it. Don’t pussyfoot around these people anymore. They are idiots and no amount of tolerance or consideration for their feelings is going to make any bit of difference. They are idiots pure and simple.

I’m sure the governor and lieutenant governor are going to flap their gums about nonsense when HISD votes on their mask mandate. I don’t give a shit. It is time for them to either do their jobs or sit down and shut up. The time for tolerating fools is long gone.

H. Scott Apley was a Dickinson city council representative and a member of the Texas GOP executive committee.  He was also an anti-vaxxer and anti-masker.  He’s railed against public health policy and flaunted guidelines to keep people safe.  Last Friday he posted a claim the COVID vaccine doesn’t work on Facebook.  Over the weekend, he, his wife, and his son all tested positive for COVID.  He was admitted to a hospital in Galveston on Monday, and he died yesterday.

Oh, and here’s his Facebook profile pic:

He gave his life “owning a lib”.  He sure showed us.

Before this week I had never heard of Jeffrey Clark.  Who’s Jeffrey Clark, you ask?  Clark is a Trump plant in the DOJ who conspired with him to insert the DOJ into The Big Lie.  Clark wrote the draft letter that he tried to get acting AG Jeffrey Rosen to sign alleging that the DOJ was investigating “various irregularities,” and, “…we have identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.”  The letter urges the governor to Georgia to reconvene the state legislature to reconsider the certification of the election for Joe Biden and choose a different set of electors for Trump.  Luckily for democracy, Rosen refused to approve the letter.  After his refusal, Clark then conspired with Trump to fire Rosen and appoint him as acting AG so he could use the DOJ to complete a coup against the duly elected president.

Even as we watched the train wreck of Trump’s attempt to overturn the election with The Big Lie, we didn’t know how close we came to a coup enacted by Trump plants not only at DOJ, but also DOD and other agencies.  And the terrifying thing is that NONE of these officials have paid any price for their treasonous conduct as employees of the US government.  That’s the shameful part.