At this point, I’m ready for Texas and Florida to Thelma and Louise themselves off a cliff and end this slow and painstaking process of hearing how both states are trying to bring back scurvy.
On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banned everyone—state companies and private businesses—from mandating a coronavirus vaccine for workers or customers because the vaccine is totally political now.
Abbott—or King Joffrey, as he’s known in the streets—doesn’t give a shit about the people of Texas, so why should he care that the move puts him at odds with the Biden administration, which recently announced plans to require employers with 100 or more workers to issue vaccine or testing mandates to goddamn save America.
According to the Washington Post, many private companies issued vaccine mandates for workers because you know, safety and all, but the governor is like, why are we caring about these people?
“If indeed the mandate now is everyone must be vaccinated or . . . tested once a week, we will obviously comply by that mandate,” Doug Parker, chief executive of Fort Worth-based American Airlines, told the Post in September.
“All along, as we’ve been going through this, we have been considering mandates and may have done one on our own. But what we wanted to do was do everything we could first to encourage everyone to do so,” he said.
Southwest Airlines, based in Dallas, gave employees until Dec. 8 to get vaccinated or be at risk of losing their job. The Same goes for Telecom giant AT&T, also based in Dallas, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, located in Houston.
But because the coronavirus vaccination efforts have turned into a big dick contest, Abbott called the Biden administration’s move “yet another instance of federal overreach,” adding that the sweeping plan is “bullying” private companies into vaccine mandates and ultimately hurting the livelihoods of Texans.
From the Post:
Violators will face a fine up to $1,000, according to the order, which will remain in effect until the Republican-dominated Texas legislature passes a law that formalizes it, Abbott said. The ban covers any person who objects to vaccination “for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19.”
Just a reminder, Abbott is fully vaccinated. Read that part again: fully vaccinated.