Most Extreme Abortion Law in US Takes Effect in Texas

THE GUARDIAN: US supreme court fails to act to block near-total ban that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers

The most radical abortion law in the US has gone into effect, despite legal efforts to block it.

A near-total abortion ban in Texas empowers any private citizen to sue an abortion provider who violates the law, opening the floodgates to harassing and frivolous lawsuits from anti-abortion vigilantes that could eventually shutter most clinics in the state.

“Abortion access will be thrown into absolute chaos,” says Amanda Williams, executive director of the abortion support group the Lilith Fund, a plaintiff in the suit that challenged the law. “Unfortunately, many people who need access the most will slip through the cracks, as we have seen over the years with the relentless attacks here in our state.

“It is unbelievable that Texas politicians have gotten away with this devastating and cruel law that will harm so many.” » | Mary Tuma | Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Abtreibungen selbst nach Vergewaltigung illegal: In Texas dürfen Frauen von der sechsten Woche an nicht mehr abtreiben. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wissen viele aber noch nichts von ihrer Schwangerschaft. Überhaupt ist das neue Gesetz umstritten – von Denunziantentum ist die Rede. »

Citizens, Not the State, Will Enforce New Abortion Law in Texas

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The measure bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. And it effectively deputizes ordinary citizens to sue people involved in the process.

People across the country may soon be able to sue abortion clinics, doctors and anyone helping a woman get an abortion in Texas, under a new state law that contains a legal innovation with broad implications for the American court system.

The provision passed the State Legislature this spring as part of a bill that bans abortion after a doctor detects a fetal heartbeat, usually at about six weeks of pregnancy. Many states have passed such bans, but the law in Texas is different.

Ordinarily, enforcement would be up to government officials, and if clinics wanted to challenge the law’s constitutionality, they would sue those officials in making their case. But the law in Texas prohibits officials from enforcing it. Instead, it takes the opposite approach, effectively deputizing ordinary citizens — including from outside Texas — to sue clinics and others who violate the law. It awards them at least $10,000 per illegal abortion if they are successful.

“It’s completely inverting the legal system,” said Stephen Vladeck, a constitutional law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “It says the state is not going to be the one to enforce this law. Your neighbors are.” » | Sabrina Tavernise | Friday, July 9, 2021

‘It’s Dehumanizing’: Texas Valedictorian Goes Off Script to Attack Abortion Ban

THE GUARDIAN: Paxton Smith criticizes near-total ban that makes no exception for rape or incest

The valedictorian at a Texas high school went off script while delivering her graduation speech, criticising the state’s extreme abortion ban in an address that has since been widely shared on social media.

School administrators had signed off on Paxton Smith’s pre-written speech on how TV and media have shaped her worldview. But, when it came time to address the graduating class of Lake Highlands high school, she pivoted.

“In light of recent events, it feels wrong to talk about anything but what is currently affecting me and millions of other women in this state,” she said, her voice shaking as she began. » | Maanvi Singh | Thursday, June 3, 2021

'You're Not Welcome Here': Trump Faces Backlash over Ohio and Texas Visits

Donald Trump will receive a frosty reception when he arrives in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday afternoon, three days after the cities were struck by mass shootings. A gunman who invoked the language of white supremacy killed 22 people when he attacked an El Paso Walmart. Local politicians have linked the shooting to Trump's rhetoric about immigrants. The president could also face protests in Dayton, where another gunman killed nine, over his failure to change gun control legislation.

THE GUARDIAN: ‘Do something’: protesters greet Trump as he visits Dayton and El Paso » | Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington and Edward Helmore in New York | Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Beto O'Rourke Slams Trump in Wake of El Paso Shooting

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke called President Donald Trump a racist and said his words can be connected to Saturday's mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that left at least 20 people dead and more than two dozen injured.

Houston after Hurricane Harvey - Fault Lines

The US' hurricane season was one of the most active in history, destroying lives and leaving victims homeless.

In August 2017, one trillion gallons of water fell on the Houston area over a four-day period - by far the most rainfall in US history. More than 70 people died, and thousands of people lost their homes.

Hurricane Harvey hit everyone in the area. But now that the water has receded, will there be an equal recovery?

A month after Harvey hit - after the media moved on to new stories - Fault Lines travelled to Houston, Texas - which is one of the most diverse but segregated cities in the US - to see if the storm will deepen the city's social and economic divide.

Into the Deluge

Hurricane Harvey: The Devastation and What Comes Next »

The Debate: After Harvey, Are Record-breaking Storms the New Normal?

US - Donald Trump: "It Happened in Texas, and Texas Can Handle Anything!"

Tropical Storm Harvey: 'There's Water Up to Your Shoulder'

The storm has hurled record rainfall at Houston, forcing thousands to flee their homes and testing flood-control systems to their limits. Parts of the city area saw more than 22in (55cm) of rain in a 24-hour period to Sunday evening; too much for the bayous to handle, too much for roads to remain passable and threatening to overwhelm emergency teams

Guardian LIVE

Hurricane Harvey Hits Coastal Texas

Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi, Tex., on Friday evening as a Category 4 storm. By Saturday afternoon, it had been downgraded to tropical storm. At least one person died.

Related NYT article here

US: Mosque Burnt After Trump Announced Muslim Ban

It's been a week since the U.S. President announced his controversial travel ban on seven mainly Muslim countries.

Forum on Radical Islam Threat Sparks Controversy

Former President George H.W. Bush in Intensive Care, Barbara Bush Hospitalized in Texas

Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush have both been hospitalized in Texas, their spokespeople revealed Wednesday.

Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said in the morning the former President has been in Houston Methodist Hospital after experiencing shortness of breath.

Hundreds Protest Speech By White Nationalist Richard Spencer At Texas A&M University | MSNBC

Around 400 protesters gathered against the controversial white nationalist Richard Spencer's speech at Texas A&M. Two protesters were arrested.

College Students Protest White Supremacist On Their Campus

Texas A&M students protested against "alt right" leader Richard Spencer speaking on campus. Spencer was invited to speak at an event organised by a member of the community.

USA: Armed Protesters Stage Anti-Islam Rally in Texas

A group of armed protesters demonstrated against refugees entering the U.S. and 'the Islamisation of America', outside Richardson mosque in Dallas, Texas, Saturday.

Texans Threaten to Cover Land with Pigs’ Blood to Block Muslim Cemetery

THE TELEGRAPH: Outrage among residents of Farmersville at proposals for a cemetery 35 miles north-east of Dallas

Angry residents of a small Texan town have threatened to put pigs’ heads on poles and pour the blood onto land which has been earmarked for a Muslim cemetery.

The latest manifestation of anti-Islamic sentiment in America surrounds a small plot of undeveloped land 35 miles north-east of Dallas.

It is a row which predates the killing of five people at a US Marines recruiting centre in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Kuwaiti-born Youssuf Abdulazeez last week.

Some residents of the Farmersville, which has a population of 3,000 said that their main concern was the way in which they believed Muslims inter their dead.

“When somebody dies they bury them at that time. They don’t know whether they were shot, diseased or anything else. All they do is wrap them in a sheet from the grave and bury them,” Troy Gosnell told the local CBS station. » | David Millward, US Correspondent | Monday, July 20, 2015

Charlie Hebdo Editor Seeks to Distance Newspaper From Anti-Islam Causes

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The top editor at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical Paris newspaper that was attacked four months ago by militant gunmen over its cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, sought on Tuesday to reject attempts by right-wing activists to exploit that attack for their own agendas.

In an interview with members of the editorial board of The New York Times, the editor, Gérard Biard, disputed any analogies drawn between the Charlie Hebdo attack and the assault on Sunday against an art contest in Texas organized by Pamela Geller, a conservative activist and blogger.

“We have nothing to do with Pamela Geller’s work,” Mr. Biard said. “When Islam or the Prophet Muhammad jump out of the news, we comment on it, we mock it, maybe. But we are not obsessed about it.” » | Rick Gladstone | Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Exclusive: ‘Draw Muhammad’ Winner on Growing Up in Islam and Defeating the Jihad

BREITBART.COM: Breitbart News spoke with Bosch Fawstin, an accomplished artist, cartoonist, and anti-Jihad activist who won first prize at Sunday’s “Draw Muhammad” free speech event in Garland, Texas.

The event came under attack by AK47-weilding jihadists, who were neutralized by a police officer before they could commit mass murder against the free speech art display’s attendees.

Fawstin talked about his unique experience growing up in the Bronx as a Muslim, how his life changed after the 9/11 attacks, and he shared strategies to defeat the global jihadist movement. His artwork is featured throughout the interview. » | Jordan Schachtel | Wednesday, May 06, 2015