Today is Sunday, April 9, 2023, Easter Sunday. More outrage from red hat America, as Texas conservative governor Greg Abbott is now working to pardon an army sergeant who was convicted Friday of killing a protester at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020. This new outrage from repugnicans who think they know better than anyone else and feel that debate can be ruled out altogether appeared online in a CNN article by Paradise Afshar, Michelle Watson, Rosa Flores, Camila Bernal, and Zoe Sottile entitled “Texas Gov. Abbott says he’s working to pardon sergeant convicted of killing protester at 2020 BLM rally.”

The convicted army sergeant is one Daniel Perry, a rideshare driver, who was indicted for murder in 2021 for the fatal shooting of Garrett Foster, who is also white, at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas.

A Travis County jury convicted Perry, 35, of murder on Friday. He was also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and deadly conduct for his behavior at the protest. The jury, however, did not find Perry guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and the deadly conduct charge is still pending with the county attorney’s office.

This odious governor who bears some similarity to Ron “DeMented” of Florida in his far-right policies declared in a tweet on Saturday, “I am working as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry.”

Perry’s defense lawyers are naturally “disappointed” in the verdict, as the prosecution has argued that Perry initiated the fatal encounter between him and Foster by running a red light to turn into the crowd gathered for the police brutality protest and had previously posted on social media about shooting protesters, according to CNN affiliate KEYE. Foster, 28, died shortly after the shooting.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza called Abbott’s comments that he would intervene in the case “deeply troubling.” Garza said he will continue to fight for the Foster family and for a justice system that treats everyone equally. Good luck with that!

Garza noted, “I know how long they have waited for justice for Garrett and their family. I can imagine that justice must feel so elusive for them and right now, and for that, I am sorry than words can express.” A judge is expected to set a sentencing hearing for Perry on Monday.

But despite the fact that Mr. Perry has been convicted of murder in the case, the racist governor of Texas is now working to exonerate him. Disgusting! What is going in this country right now with one openly racist, fascistic party is so intolerable. When will this juggernaut of unfairness going to end in this country? When people wake up and vote these antidemocratic lawmakers out of office, it seems.

Would Abbott have intervened in any other case if it were not for the fact that this one was a Black Lives Matter situation? I would dare say not at all. Abbott’s motives are very clear here just like those Tennessee lawmakers who expelled only Black representatives from the House chamber a few days ago. We know how well that went!

It’s late here. Elliot and I had our dear friend “Mark” over for a non-Passover dinner and a movie today since Mark will be returning to Florida on Wednesday. Mark rang our doorbell at 5 and just left after 10. For dinner, we called a local Chinese takeout place and ordered some mainstream dishes like won ton soup and vegetable lo mein. At least we didn’t eat bread at the dinner table.

For our movie entertainment, we watched Crossing Delancey from 1988 that starred a young Amy Irving and Peter Riegert. This is the film that casts Irving as an apparently independent woman working in a bookstore and whose Bubbie (Reizl Bozyk) believes she needs to get married already. A bossy Jewish matchmaker (Sylvia Miles) then makes a match for Irving with a pickle vendor played by Riegert. Throughout the film, Irving treats Riegert with contempt since she looks down at his profession as she unsuccessfully runs after successful author Anton Maes (Jeroen Krabbe) who turns out to be self-centered and a womanizer.

Anyway, it’s getting too late here.

Have a good week.

Stay safe and be well.