Gratitude Monday: Texas crazy

I know you aren’t supposed to express affirmations (of which gratitude is a form) in the negative, but in the light of the past couple of weeks, on this Gratitude Monday I am profoundly thankful that I do not live in Texas.

Because, as idiotic as most politicians are, the Texas Lege is sui generis in achieving the nadir of pig-ignorance combined with the kind of arrogance that only white male Republicans can master completely.

The latest example of this is the ban Friday on women bringing feminine hygiene products into the Senate gallery as the new anti-abortion bill was being debated. They didn’t want to risk being pelted with tampons—yes, that’s what they said; tampons could be used as weapons, so they were collected at the entrance.

Two interesting things about this that pretty much tell the whole tale:

Women’s bags were searched and tampons and maxi-pads were confiscated, but if you had a concealed weapon and a carry permit, you were waved through. ‘Cuz, it’s Texas, after all. A woman has no right to control her own body, but she does have a by-God entitlement to pack the most heat she can cram into that pretty little Gucci knock-off she’s toting.

Men were not searched. If they were packing Tampax, they made it through the gauntlet.

Apparently, if you have the XX chromosome configuration you’re considered more dangerous with a maxi-pad on your person than a Glock.

At least to the Lege.

I am down-on-my-knees grateful I do not live in that crack-brained state.