Pardon Me: How Texas Governor Greg Abbott Legalized Murder - And Is Getting Away With It

With his recent pardon of one Daniel Perry, Abbott has sent a clear signal that he approves of the murder of pro-equality protesters. It’s a dangerous escalation that demands immediate response.

Hello, friends,

Last week, we discussed how Donald Trump might be avoiding the pitfalls Hillary Clinton encountered when picking a Vice Presidential candidate.  As a follow-up, Trump has indicated he is blissfully and blessedly too stupid to take such a successful tack.  That betters Joe Biden’s chances quite substantially, as it leaves the Republican party somewhat fractured - and with Haley telling Republicans to “Vote Your Conscience.”  That’s political speak for, “Fuck the party, this guy’s too bad to elect.”

And, good - because today we’re going to talk a little bit about how Republicans have taken the next logical, if terrifying step on their march towards Fascism.

On Friday (so, the day this article was ‘due.’  Good thing I don’t get paid to be on time - or paid at all), Texas Governor Greg Abbott de-facto legalized the premeditated murder of protesting political opponents by pardoning murderer Daniel Perry - allegedly the first pardon Abbott has issued in a long, long time.

I must stress that there is a strong legal precedent that accepting a pardon is accompanied with an acceptance of guilt, leaving little room for this madman to claim innocence despite what the pardon itself tries to lay out as a ‘stand your ground’ scenario.

- Daniel Perry, convicted murderer.  Photo credit to the Austin, Texas police Department.

Is It Really That Bad?

Yes.

As per CNN, Perry’s guilty conviction came as evidence about his desire to “hunt Muslims” in the United States came out - among other racist tirades and examples of a premeditated desire to attack and slaughter Black Lives Matter protesters.

Among other evidence listed are these Perry quotes cited in Vox’s article on the disgraceful decision, curated and condensed on Twitter (it’ll always be Twitter, baby) by Eric Levitz.

“I might go to Dallas to shoot looters” and to - I have to make a direct quote I don’t want to make, here, so forgive the crudeness in the pursuit of accuracy  - “catch me a Negro daddy” is, well, premeditation on an atrocious scale.  It doesn’t get much clearer that, when Perry ran his car into protesters and shot and murdered an innocent man named Garrett Foster.

I’ll note that Abbott’s pardon authority is subject to a board which voted unanimously to pardon Perry, and to restore his firearms rights.

The enthusiasm behind this action makes abundantly clear that Greg Abbott will do this sort of thing again.  The next psychopath - perhaps Perry himself! - who decides to shoot up an anti-racism protest will most assuredly be pardoned, while it seems unlikely that the next activist who takes a potshot at a Nazi gathering will get the same grace.

Note that both actions are held, in my esteem, to be unacceptable acts of violence, while Texas would happily deem one acceptable and the other not-so.

So What Can We Do About This - And What Shouldn’t We Do?

The truth is, this situation demands national outcry.  I’ve talked recently about the abuses that protesters are suffering nationwide at the hands of the authorities.  In fact, in a paywalled Washington Post article curated in part by Twitter user Rafael Shimunov, they report that New York City’s very own Mayor Eric Adams conspired with billionaires to accept the aid of private investigators in order to bust up anti-genocide protests, seemingly in exchange for donations.

So, that’s happening - and distressing.

It’s The truth is, this situation demands national outcry.  I’ve talked recently about the abuses that protesters are suffering nationwide at the hands of the authorities.  In fact, in a paywalled Washington Post article curated by Twitter user Rafael Shimunov, they report that New York City’s very own Mayor Eric Adams conspired with billionaires to accept the aid of private investigators in order to bust up anti-genocide protests.

So, that’s happening.

Consider where that leaves protesters seeking change:  It’s legal to execute them in Texas, and even in the oft-touted ‘liberal haven’ of New York it is increasingly impossible to voice one’s opinion without a visit (and likely abuse) from the NYPD.

Let’s talk about what not to do.

This situation leaves me with a legendary John F. Kennedy quote in mind:  “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

It’s easy to fantasize about what that quote implies should the current practice - that is, the suppression of peaceful revolution via authoritarian means - continue.  Given that our nation was born in a revolution, we Americans tend to think of this as some kind of relatively simplistic, organized movement that will whisk away and overthrow the current government.  This movement would supplant it with new structural systems and rules.  “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

As delicious as that might sound, violent revolution is, well, a bad idea.  I’m highly skeptical of anyone who thinks the firepower available to most civilians is going to do any good against the United States military.  The very idea of a violent revolution reeks of idealistic, illusionary accelerationism born from the depths of doomerism.  I’ve already explained why the collateral damage of a violent uprising is inhumane and counterproductive.

But that doesn’t mean people wouldn’t try.

It also doesn’t mean that any attempt at a revolution, peaceful or violent, would be well-organized.  After all, it’s 2024.  All it takes to cause catastrophe is anyone who can Google-search “Anarchist’s Cookbook,” a little cash, some time, a maddening manifesto, and a willingness to die for one’s cause.  That’s all it takes.  Period.

We’ve seen it play out over and over, primarily from a conservative and/or Fascist viewpoint.  

• The mass shooter from the Parkland massacre?  Swastikas engraved on his gun.  

• Heather Heyer was murdered at the Charlottesville Nazi rally by a terrorist driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, injuring others as well.

• The Tree Of Life massacre was perpetrated by a guy who threw veiled “Heil Hitler” numerology around on his Gab (a Fashy site if ever there was one) account.

• The Charleston mass shooting was committed by a terrorist who held white supremacist viewponts and held other racist theories close to his heart.

• The 2022 Buffalo slaughter at a Tops store was done by a maniac who wrote a manifesto, frequented the Nazi publication The Daily Stormer, and - this is key, here - lauded the Charleston shooter as his inspiration.

Note that last one.  Notice how it was inspired by prior events?  Well, notice this:  Daniel Perry committed his murder on July 25th, 2020.

Ever hear of a guy named Kyle Rittenhouse?  On August 25th - exactly one month later! - he crossed state lines with a weapon to…Well, I can’t say he “murdered” because he was acquitted, but I can say he “killed.”

Now:  Notice how I said “killed?”  Notice how I’ve stressed that this pardon requires a nationwide movement to recognize it for what it was - a license to commit murder against anti-racist and other Progressive-aligned protests?

Let’s talk about our media and our response.

How Is The Media Handling This?  What Is The Democrats’ Response?

AHA!!  We’ve reached the part of the article where this takes a turn.

See, I intended to show a screenshot of what I see when I search for information about this pardon.  I expected the word “killed” to pop up in headlines, and not “murder.”

I was partially wrong.

I mean, sure, the CNN article I’ve been using has a headline which in full reads:  “Former US Army sergeant released from prison after Gov. Abbott pardons him for 2020 fatal Black Lives Matter protest shooting.”  “Fatal shooting” is the essence of their explanation of events, but the sub-text immediately next to it tells us that Perry was convicted of murder.

And, sure, the BBC article’s information pops up as “killing a [protester].”  That’s some fairly passive language.

But the Vox article I’ve used has a headline reading:  “Why a GOP governor’s pardon of a far-right murderer is so chilling.”  That’s actually accurate journalism!

All in all, it’s not Goddess-awful journalism.  There’s a solid amount of wiggle-wording with the words “killed” and “shooting,” to be sure, but there’s a bare majority of clear condemnation as “murder.”  I would have liked to see the word “terrorist” or “terrorism,” but sadly I don’t see that.  Still, we got “murder!”

At least there’s that?

But that’s just accurate, factual reporting about the crime committed.  That isn’t - say - any media centered around a reaction to the pardon’s implicit provision of permitted murder.

A Google-search reveals that there is plenty of invective similar to mine, but little to no reporting about - say - a response protest.

In fact, the Texas Democrats - you know, the opposition party! - put out…A ‘strongly worded’ statement that calls for no direct action whatsoever.

There’s no, “On X date, we will organize at Y places.”  There is no petition.  There is nothing save for a strongly worded letter.

Now, maybe I’m being too harsh.  Maybe there hasn’t been enough time to organize a response.  It’s entirely possible I am being unrealistic.  Maybe, as the news of this broke on a Friday, all the relevant permit-issuing places were closed.

But it seems like, if I had the time to write this article, surely the professionals who get paid to organize these things have had a chance to prepare for this, given that the pardon’s probability was known over a year in advance of its implementation.  At the very least, they should be putting forward some indication of an actual response.

It seems like everyone is just ignoring this atrocity and what it allows for.  After all, like I said earlier, even the ‘liberal havens’ are punishing protesters.

And that’s horrible precedent to put in place.

Thank you for reading The Progressive Cafe.  If this article has helped you, please consider signing up for our mailing list.  This article is by Jesse Pohlman, a former hyperlocal journalist and sci-fi/fantasy author from Long Island, New York, whose website you can check out here.