Texas Governor Announces Intention to Sign Bill That Would Prevent Cities From Defunding the Police

Texas Republicans truly operate on a whole ‘nother level when it comes to dumbfuckery. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced that he intends to sign a bill that would make it significantly more difficult for a city to defund its police force.

According to CBS News, Austin Police Association President Kenneth Casaday tweeted on Sunday that it took the Austin police 16 minutes to arrive at the scene of a call where a victim was critically injured after being shot in the head. Abbott, who I’m pretty sure has said something along the lines of “we shouldn’t politicize a tragedy,” immediately saw fit to politicize this shooting.

“This is what defunding the police looks like. Austin is incapable of timely responding to a victim shot in the head. Texas won’t tolerate this. We’re about to pass a law-that I will sign-that will prevent cities from defunding police. Sanity & safety will return,” Abbott wrote on Sunday when he retweeted Casaday’s tweet.

Bruh, you’re literally out here advocating for Texas to become a “Second Amendment Sanctuary state.” Fuck you mean, sanity and safety will return?

The bill Abbott was referring to has passed in the state Senate but was postponed in the House on Sunday. It would require a municipality to hold an election if the budget it proposes for a fiscal year reduces funding, reallocates funds, or reduces the amount of officers a department can employ compared to the previous year.

So essentially, the folks who love to talk about freedom and all that shit want to remove a city’s autonomy to determine where it would like to put its money. Yeah, sounds like Texas.

Anyone who’s done even an ounce of research on what “defund the police” actually means knows that it’s not just “take away their money and that’s it.” The money is generally repurposed to go towards community programs that could help combat the underlying motivators of crime (being broke and hungry for instance), and removing cops from situations they really have no business really being at, such as mental crises.

Austin “defunded” its police force last year and the Texas Municipal Police Association acted like perfectly reasonable adults and put up two billboards outside the city that read Warning! Austin defunded police. Enter at your own risk!” and “Limited support next 20 miles.”

I swear, Texas and Florida are in an unending competition to see which state can truly be considered America’s asshole.