Elected officials in Texas today are reckless, careless, anti-freedom offenders. They’re also largely unchecked by the opposition party. Thankfully, corporations are able to use their power and money to provide a counterbalance of sorts. For instance, starting this week people with no training whatsoever can stroll around the Lone Star State armed, loaded, and ready to fire. But not when they’re buying groceries at Texans’ favorite supermarket.
We are so proud of our Texas volunteers who urged one of Texas’s largest grocery store chains—H-E-B—to prohibit permitless carry in their stores, and they agreed!
Keep going, Texas Moms! #TXlege pic.twitter.com/f8ojYYwpCu
— Moms Demand Action (@MomsDemand) September 3, 2021
In related news, on Friday a judge in Travis County, Texas, granted a temporary restraining order against Texas Right to Life, blocking it from suing Planned Parenthood and enforcing the abortion restrictions.
Hacktivists Flood Anti-Freedom Website with Bogus Reports
According to The New York Times, Jonathan Díaz created a new app, Pro-Life Buster, which allows people to automatically send the Texas Right to Life website bogus tips.
Mr. Díaz said the app existed to flood the site with authentic-looking, but fabricated data. “The goal is to waste these people’s time and resources so that they wake up and realize this effort is not worth their time,” he said.
The website, prolifewhistleblower.com, which was set up by the group Texas Right to Life, was designed to help carry out the new law which encourages private citizens who are deputized to sue anyone who performs or aids an abortion in violation of the law.
GoDaddy said late Thursday that it had given Texas Right to Life 24 hours to find a new hosting provider before cutting off service.
Two Women-Led Firms in Texas Ready to Battle
Bumble, the dating app company founded by Whitney Wolfe Herd and based in Austin, said it was donating funds to organizations that supported women in Texas seeking abortions.
“Bumble is woman-founded and women-led, and from day one we’ve stood up for the most vulnerable,” the company said in an Instagram post. “We’ll keep fighting against regressive laws like #SB8.”
Match Group, another dating company, which is based in Dallas, also set up a fund for employees affected by the law, and Shar Dubey, the chief executive, sent a memo to employees expressing her disappointment in the new law.
More Tech Firms Ready to Give Shelter
Lyft’s chief executive, Logan Green, said the company would pay the legal costs of any drivers who faced lawsuits under the law. “TX SB8 threatens to punish drivers for getting people where they need to go — especially women exercising their right to choose,” he wrote on Twitter.
Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, said on Twitter that his company would also cover its drivers’ legal expenses.
A spokesman for Houston-based Hewlett Packard said that its medical plan allowed employees to seek abortions out of state, and will pay for lodging for such a trip.
Footnote: República de Tejas was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, although Mexico considered it a rebellious province during its entire existence.
