He also let Hidalgo enforce mandates on businesses in Houston, too. He stinks. As someone higher up in the thread said, Texas in general stinks way more than you would think in the mask mandate department. I thankfully passed through some small towns while traveling for Thanksgiving where people didn't give a damn about masks, and it was really refreshing to see, but I have been shocked by just how many people have chugged the Kool-Aid in this supposedly conservative state.
I have my theories as to why this is. Texas has a history of leaning towards medical tyranny. If you recall, there was a hullabaloo a few years back about legislating mandatory vaccination in Texas, which thankfully didn't come to fruition. Some of the best hospitals in the USA are located in Texas - which is a blessing and a curse, because the medical/pharmaceutical industry is extremely strong here. I am a crunchy hippy type when it comes to health, so I was shocked when I moved to Houston and found there were almost no midwives and not a single herbalist (who wasn't a Chinese medicine practitioner - and I am not going near that) to be found.
All that to say: the medical industry has Texas in a stranglehold.
Abbott initially was dead set against shutdowns of businesses and schools and said so back around the end of February.
A Dallas judge ordered Dallas County to shut down all non essential businesses and pressed Abbot on a statewide shutdown in early March.
Abbott declined to countermand the Dallas County order and implemented the same shutdown order state wide in March via Emergency Power EO, but stipulated that no county had authority to enforce the state shutdown order separately, or something like that.
Then in May Abbott started ordering a phased re-opening and the Harris county judge started handing down orders that in Houston businesses couldn't reopen and that you would be fined by the county for not wearing masks in public.
Abbott then made an EO saying the counties had no authority to enforce a mask mandate and ordered more businesses could open.
In response, Travis, Dallas, Harris and Bexar county judges passed identical simultaneous orders that businesses that didn't enforce masks could be shut down by the county, which took the "enforcement of individuals" out of the equation.
Abbott then bent over his wheelchair, took off his diaper and spread his cheeks for the metro judges and passed a statewide mask mandate.
He also let Hidalgo enforce mandates on businesses in Houston, too. He stinks. As someone higher up in the thread said, Texas in general stinks way more than you would think in the mask mandate department. I thankfully passed through some small towns while traveling for Thanksgiving where people didn't give a damn about masks, and it was really refreshing to see, but I have been shocked by just how many people have chugged the Kool-Aid in this supposedly conservative state.
I have my theories as to why this is. Texas has a history of leaning towards medical tyranny. If you recall, there was a hullabaloo a few years back about legislating mandatory vaccination in Texas, which thankfully didn't come to fruition. Some of the best hospitals in the USA are located in Texas - which is a blessing and a curse, because the medical/pharmaceutical industry is extremely strong here. I am a crunchy hippy type when it comes to health, so I was shocked when I moved to Houston and found there were almost no midwives and not a single herbalist (who wasn't a Chinese medicine practitioner - and I am not going near that) to be found.
All that to say: the medical industry has Texas in a stranglehold.
As I recall the history went something like this:
Abbott initially was dead set against shutdowns of businesses and schools and said so back around the end of February.
A Dallas judge ordered Dallas County to shut down all non essential businesses and pressed Abbot on a statewide shutdown in early March.
Abbott declined to countermand the Dallas County order and implemented the same shutdown order state wide in March via Emergency Power EO, but stipulated that no county had authority to enforce the state shutdown order separately, or something like that.
Then in May Abbott started ordering a phased re-opening and the Harris county judge started handing down orders that in Houston businesses couldn't reopen and that you would be fined by the county for not wearing masks in public.
Abbott then made an EO saying the counties had no authority to enforce a mask mandate and ordered more businesses could open.
In response, Travis, Dallas, Harris and Bexar county judges passed identical simultaneous orders that businesses that didn't enforce masks could be shut down by the county, which took the "enforcement of individuals" out of the equation.
Abbott then bent over his wheelchair, took off his diaper and spread his cheeks for the metro judges and passed a statewide mask mandate.
Here we are.