Transformative Crap

MAGA Gov. Greg Abbott in his ads says he is “advancing transformative policies.” I have news for Abbott. The definition of transformative is “causing or able to cause an important and lasting change in someone or something.” Abbott’s transformative policies are hate, and hate is something that has been around forever. It is not new. This is transformative crap. See the latest from the Chron:

Houston Mayor John Whitmire defended religious accommodations for Muslim travelers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Monday, saying public footwashing stations are not discriminatory, as Gov. Greg Abbott has alleged.

Islamic foot wash stations inside restrooms for the airport’s international terminal serve a “practical need” for travelers, Whitmire said in a statement. Abbott, meanwhile, has criticized such facilities as “special treatment” for Muslims, threatening to revoke state funds from airports in Houston and Dallas over the issue.

“The ablution room and adjoining prayer room are open to all travelers, employees and stakeholders with access to Terminal D, regardless of faith,” Whitmire said. “Nobody receives preferential access, and nobody is excluded.”

The Houston Airport System, which runs Bush and Hobby Airport and is overseen by officials appointed by Whitmire, paid for the ablution facilities with fees charged to the international airlines rather than public funds from the city or state, the mayor said.

Whitmire’s statement also notes that roughly one-fifth of all passengers in the airport’s international terminal departed on Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines, airlines that serve Muslim-majority countries. Ablution facilities are preferable to having residents resort to using sinks for washing needs, Whitmire added. 

The governor took aim at Houston’s largest airport on Friday, referring IAH as well as Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation, the latest in state Republicans’ efforts to target what they cast as Sharia law and an “Islamic takeover” of Texas. The stations amount to religious discrimination because the airports do not offer standalone facilities for other faiths, Abbott alleged.

Officials at DFW said they were scrapping plans for new footwashing stations amid “elevated public interest” this week. 

Meanwhile, Houston’s airport has had an ablution station connected to its Interfaith Chapel since 2024, installed under former Mayor Sylvester Turner. The facilities are used by Muslims who wash their bodies before prayer five times a day.

Most political campaigns have war rooms. The Abbott campaign has an anti-Muslim room. I am sure most folks didn’t know that some international airports had these facilities. Abbott is hoping that Muslim hate is a get-out-the-vote motivator.

The Noah fella tweeted this:

Whitmire deserves fulsome praise for this. One need not look farther than Dallas to see our leadership really could Be Worse.

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I said this last week about MAGA candidate for Harris County Judge Orlando Sanchez:

MAGA candidate for Harris County Judge Orlando Sanchez penned an Op-Ed in the Chron on the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. The Op-Ed is milquetoast. He never mentions ICE. Here is a line from his Op-Ed:

We can protect our borders and protect due process.

Nice line, but Orlando never calls out ICE and their documented violations of due process that have been filmed countless times across our country.

Apparently, Orlando met with local Latino leaders recently and here is a take by State Rep. Christina Morales on the meeting:

Two miles from where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed by an ICE agent, the Republican candidate for Harris County Judge sat down with Latino leaders over menudo and asked us to forget he’s a Republican.

But here’s what he told our community about ICE: take it up with Congress.

Take it up with Congress? Lorenzo was killed on Canal Street. In Harris County. A man who spent 12 years as county treasurer knows exactly how much power the county judge has — over the sheriff’s cooperation with ICE, over 287(g), over every taxpayer dollar this county spends serving ICE. He’s not powerless. He’s just not willing.

And this is the same man who built a PAC to convince Latinos to vote Republican — who now wants us to forget the party he’s spent 30 years recruiting us into.

We don’t forget. We remember Lorenzo. We remember who showed up with a plan, and who showed up with menudo and a shrug.

Dr. Letitia Plummer for Harris County Judge

Good take by Rep. Morales.

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Movie director Sam Mendes is at the helm of The Beatles biopic that is four flicks that will debut in 2028. They are shooting the movie now. Yesterday, on “Today,” they showed the Fab Four actors doing the Abbey Road walk. See the featured photo. Oh, darling. It is something else to see them come together and carry that weight. Cool.

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It is Dollar Dog Night at Daikin Park this evening. We begin a 3-game series with the Angels. We know what we must do.