Ms Davis conducted a thirteen hour long filibuster yesterday, in order to thwart a nasty piece of anti-choice legislation that would have made it nearly impossible to get an abortion in the state of Texas. She was not allowed to lean on anything while filibustering, or take a bathroom break, or eat, either. She was told she would have to stay on topic, and she was given three "strikes" re the filibuster. The third time she broke one of the rules, the filibuster would end. When the GOP controlled state Senate saw Ms Davis might make it, and they would not be able to vote (the session ended at midnight Texas time last night) on SB5, they hastily claimed three bogus violations on her (two of which were she mentioned Planned Parenthood, which they claimed not germane, and another was when she had a colleague adjust the back brace she was wearing) and tried to organize a vote at about an hour and a half before midnight. The Dems stalled as long as they possibly with motion after motion until at about a quarter to midnight the GOP had had enough, broke the rules, and tried to organize a vote anyway.
The gallery crowd went ballistic, and made it nearly impossible for the Senate to conduct business. The vote happened and the Dems lost 19-10, but it was after midnight. The nasty GOP changed the time stamp on the legislation to two minutes before midnight, and claimed it had passed. But the thousands watching online and at the Capitol knew better, and the GOP finally had to call it a night, saying the session was over and SB5 was dead.
Asshat Gubner Haircut will most likely call a special session, and this drama will play out all over again, but as my friend Jill T said on friendface, "Ms Davis, I would like to buy you a drink."
Here is some of Ms Davis' story. And you all know Barbara Jordan and Molly Ivins were watching from the beyond, raisin' hell, and fighting with her.
(And, hey, do something to support Ms Davis today: Donate to Planned Parenthood here. I did!)
************
And, then, of course the internets and friendface exploded at a couple of minutes after seven AM Cali time when Justice Kennedy killed DOMA. It went just as I predicted, scenario two on the chart I provided last week, a narrow victory on Prop 8, and a resounding victory on DOMA.
A great flipping day for our country and democracy. There are major battles still to be fought, on both these issues and many others, but the good guys won today. Big time.
It is going to be the greatest Pride evah! Enjoy it you crazy kids! Be safe and make out with like a dozen people each for me. I love you all,
xxxoooxxx,
Ardent
No comments:
Post a Comment