Courtesy Photo / Texas Attorney General's Office
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is on a crusade to enforce fellow Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders barring government entities from requiring facemasks and vaccinations to combat COVID-19.
In the past week alone, his office sued San Antonio ISD to shut down its employee vaccination mandate, won a temporary order halting Paris ISD from enforcing its campus mask mandate and sued three more districts in a bid to overturn theirs.
As part of his crusade to enforce fellow Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s orders barring government entities from requiring face masks and vaccinations to combat COVID-19, Paxton even set up a website urging Texans to rat out school districts and other local entities that implement such requirements.
So, how’s that working out? Not too well, judging from the growing number of violators listed on Paxton’s tip site.
When it launched on August 19, the site listed 70 municipal entities flouting Abbott’s order. Those ranged from bustling Bexar County to rural Lasara ISD. As of September 17, that tally had passed the 100 mark.
Since the site’s launch, the AG’s office also appended it to include the names of a couple dozen municipalities and districts that have dropped their mandates in the wake of Paxton’s lawsuit spree. But that pales in comparison to the multitude who are openly defying Abbott’s politically motivated order.
Abbott’s directives — and Paxton’s zeal in enforcing them — are motivated by their desire to pander to far-right voters who cling to baseless conspiracy theories that masks don’t work and that vaccines are conduits for microchips, genetic manipulation and the fucking Mark of the Beast.
School districts and municipalities know science is on their side, and they’re also aware that for all Paxton’s bluster, he isn’t equipped to fight court battles with every one of them.
With 7,000 Texans dead from COVID-19 over the past month, those local entities also understand that incurring legal fees in event they’re sued by this assclown is a small price to pay for protecting their constituents, students and staffs.
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