The Texas Handmaids Tale

 Wednesday, November 17th, 2021

My Dear America:

I used to like watching Disaster Films and Television Dramas.

Not so much anymore.  

I came home today and my wife was watching "The Day After Tomorrow," an interesting and extremely well produced Movie which is a cautionary tale about what is likely to happen if the issue of Global Warming is not addressed by The United States and the rest of the world in the coming years.  The movie was made in 2004 and we are living these days in what were the coming years for 2004

Spoiler Alert:  The movie shows that we might be in for the Snowstorm from Hell.

I did sit down and watch the last hour of the movie before beginning to write this post.  

Although I did recognize the High Production Quality of this film I realized that when I saw this movie for the first time I thought that certainly this Frozen Horror Story could never happen on earth, Never Mind in the United States Of America.  

We would never stand for our President and our Government to allow things to get so completely out of hand that we might have our nation Frozen over in the face of Climate Change.  

We were certainly too smart and too aware for that awful disastrous prospect to occur in our lifetime or in any American Lifetime.  That's what I thought the first time I saw this movie.

One of my Favorite Television Series streaming on the Hulu Platform in somewhat recent years has been "The Handmaid's Tale." I watched a couple of Seasons of this Thoughtful but Frightening Series depicting what Women might expect living in a world where many of them are relegated merely to people who have very little control over their bodies and almost no control over whether or not they can choose to have Children or not to have Children.

Spoiler Alert:  No Abortions for these Unfortunate Young Ladies.

Although I am sure that I will at some point return to watching "The Handmaid's Tale" I can't do it right now.  This show is too close to reality at the moment.  This show is too close to Gilead, the Fictional Place where The Handmaid's Tale" takes place. 

Suffice it to say that as bad as Gilead is we have found a place in The United States of America which may be even worse than Gilead when it comes to that third rail of politics that affects women.  ABORTION.

That Place where the Real Life "Handmaid's Tale" exists is called TEXAS.

In the State of Texas where Previous Governors such as George W. Bush and Rick Perry have not always been the Sharpest tools in the shed, Present day Governor Greg Abbott has proved to be the Rightest but not the Brightest Governor that Texas has seen in some time.

Before he was Elected Governor First in 2014 he had been appointed by Governor Bush to the Texas Supreme Court And following that became Texas Attorney General prior to running for Governor on the Republican ticket.

Recently Governor Abbott seems to have been in a Governor's Race to the bottom of the Barrel competition with Governor Ron De Santis of Florida to prove that Governor Abbott is by far the most outrageously Right Wing Governor of the Twenty First Century.  

So far, Governor Abbott's track record seems to show that he is winning that stiff competition with Governor De Santis to see who can out do each other in destroying Democracy and appealing to Donald Trump and his supporters.

Both Governor's have fought hard against the reasonable prospects of mandating Face Masks and Vaccinations in their states to combat the spread of Covid 19.  

Abbott has quite a few other Right Wing accomplishments under his belt such as putting Millions of his Texas residents at risk of death and bankruptcy by promoting the Texas Power Grid that was responsible for many lives lost when Texas Froze over fairly recently and the power grid shut down.  When the power grid was reactivated those Texans who were still alive found themselves paying outrageous sums to ERCOT, the Texas Power Company to keep their electric power on.

Although Governor Abbott's Outrageous Right Wing accomplishments in Texas seem to be endless and heartless, the Texas Heartbeat Law and Abbott's Assault on primarily Democratic Voting Rights in the State seem to standout as incredibly awful legislation signed into law by Greg Abbott and his primarily Republican Legislature.

The Texas Heartbeat Law sets up a situation in which any individual in or out of the state can sue anyone who assists a woman in getting an abortion in Texas and make money doing it.  It is a law that is truly diabolical in avoiding the scrutiny of the Judiciary in setting abortion standards.

Abbott has been for years blatantly setting up the voting system in Texas so that Democrats can be easily purged from the voter rolls and otherwise be prevented from voting in their state and Consequently Republicans can be elected more easily.

It seems as though with Abbott's terrible record of accomplishments, or lack thereof, that he might easily be defeated by Democrats in the state.  

Time will tell on that score.  At the present time, however, like the "Lone Ranger" coming to the Rescue in Texas, Former Sitting Congressman, Senate Candidate and Presidential Candidate, Beto O'Rourke is riding in to attempt to rescue the State of Texas from further abuse by Governor Abbott by running for Governor himself.  

Hopefully Beto O'Rourke coming to the Rescue might turn this state around but it remains to be seen how much damage Abbott has been able to do in this state not only to women but to voter rolls.

Let's hope that "Lone Ranger" O'Rourke might have the goods to rid the state of Texas of the Tragic Stranglehold of Governor Greg Abbott.  

The Women and The Democrats in Texas will certainly be grateful to O"Rourke if he can eventually rid Texas of this Human Scourge.

Sincerely Yours

Jerry Gallagher