Texas

The Texas abortion law and US Supreme Court’s unwillingness to block it are blows to America’s image overseas, according to a top human rights official at the United Nations.

The chair of the UN’s working group on discrimination against women and girls, which usually tackles issues in the Arab and developing world nations, called the Texas SB 8 law a violation of international law because it denies women control over their own bodies and endangers their lives.

Melissa Upreti considers the Texas law structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst.

She told The Guardian:

“The law and the way it came about—through the refusal of the US Supreme Court to block it based on existing precedent—has not only taken Texas backward, but in the eyes of the international community, it has taken the entire country backward.”

The US Supreme Court decision to punt on the Texas abortion law that tramples the Constitutional rights of women was hardly a profile in courage.

In a sharp contrast, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled decisively on Sept. 7 to decriminalize abortion in a land in which the Catholic Church still holds some sway.

Arturo Zaldiver, president of the Mexican court, called the ruling “a watershed in the history of the rights of all women, especially the most vulnerable.”

In contrast the Washington jurists, ripped up 50 years of federal precedents and allowed the Lone Star State to devise a scheme to evade judicial scrutiny, according to the eloquent dissent written by associate justice Sonia Sotomayor.

She accused her colleagues of burying their heads in the sand in letting the Texas law stand because of “complex and novel antecedent procedural questions.”

Sotomayor called the Texas law that deputizes “citizens as bounty hunters, offering them cash prizes for civilly prosecuting their neighbors’ medical procedures” a “breathtaking act of defiance” of the Constitution and the rights of women seeking abortions throughout Texas.

The Texas law opens the door for any state “to evade federal judicial scrutiny by outsourcing the enforcement of unconstitutional laws to its citizenry.”

On cue, lawmakers in Florida, South Dakota, North Dakota, Indiana and Mississippi have announced plans to introduce their own restrictive aborton laws that are modeled on the Texas measure.

Can the US swap its Supreme Court with Mexico?

Mo Brooks, the right-wing Alabama firebrand, is among the 11 Republican Congressmen who signed a letter urging communications companies not to cooperate with the Congressional probe of the Jan. 6 riot.

Does Mo have something to hide?

He spoke during the “Save America” Jan. 6 pep rally at Washington’s Ellipse that sought to stop the certification of Donald Trump’s electoral shellacking.

Tough Guy Brooks fired up the crowd with gems like “start taking down names and kicking ass” and how “our ancestors sacrificed their blood, sweat, tears and sometimes their lives” before challenging the mob about whether it would do the same. Get cracking, you bunch of wusses.

Mo, who was wearing body armour, asked the crowd if they “were willing to do what it takes to fight for America” and urged them to “carry the message to Capitol Hill.”

Mission was accomplished. Chaos ensued. A national disgrace happened.

The pride of Alabama has maintained his vitriol. His office released a statement on Aug. 25, saying president Biden “has shown the strength of a marshmallow and the intellectual capacity and judgement of a gnat.”

Brooks said Biden used to “have a keen mind and was capable of weighing myriad facts to reach sound judgements” but those days are long gone and Biden’s “mental capacity has significantly eroded.”

Geez. Remember the outrage when South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouted “You Lie” at president Obama in 2009 during his speech on healthcare reform.

Wilson was decent enough to apologize after the speech.

He said:

This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the president's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility."

Times have certainly changed. Brooks expects his hateful words about Biden will power him to a US Senate seat.

Meanwhile, one of the letters sent by the 11 GOP Congressmen to the CEOs urging the boycott of their own institution was addressed to Marissa Mayer, who resigned from the Yahoo helm four years ago.

Even a person with the intellectual capacity of a gnat would have checked to see who is in charge of Yahoo.

Right, Mo? It’s Guru Gowrappan.

Signs of a potential recovery for the battered travel business are fading from view, according to a poll conducted by Morning Consult for the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

It found that almost seven in ten (69 percent) of leisure travelers are planning fewer trips, 55 percent are postponing current travel and 42 percent are killing travel plans with no thought of rescheduling.

Chip Rogers, CEO of AHLA, said the rising levels of COVID-19 and the onset of slower travel months means the hotel business is at a pivotal point.

ALHA and UNITE HERE, the largest hospitality union, have been asking Congress for direct pandemic relief for more than a year. Congress has failed to deliver the goods.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) have sponsored the Save Hotel Jobs Act, which would provide a lifeline to the segment.

The Morning Consult survey shows that time is running out for the travel business.