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Texas, beneath the radar of higher-profile national races, will hold elections this fall to address a number of proposed constitutional amendments. Although none of the nine proposed amendments is exactly headline-grabbing, one of them officially eliminates a state agency that shut down more than 25 years ago, for example, the election would be the first in which the state’s infamous new voter ID law would be in effect. The new Texas law requires all voters to provide a photo ID that reflects their current name. If they can’t, voters must provide any of a series of other acceptable forms of identification all of which must match exactly and match the name on their birth certificate. Supporters of the new law insist that requiring voters to have an ID that matches their birth certificate is a reasonable requirement. As Texas Attorney General Gregory Wayne Abbott repeatedly said, “Almost every single person either has a valid photo ID … or it’s very easy to get one”. However, what they didn’t say is that the people who don’t are largely married women who’ve taken their husband’s name.
In fact, only 66 percent of women have an ID that reflects their current name. If any voter uses a name different from what appears on their birth certificate, the voter’s required to show proof of name change by providing an original or certified copy of their marriage licence, divorce decree, or court-ordered name change. Photocopies aren’t accepted. These obstacles to proving a legal name change would eliminate a large pool of women from the state’s electorate, as many will face time and financial constraints that will prohibit them from securing new credentials. On the other hand, the majority of men eligible to vote won’t encounter the same difficulties, because they don’t typically modify their names when married. To order a new copy of your birth certificate or marriage verification means that you must travel in person to the state capital, something largely impossible for senior citizens or people with day jobs, and pay 22 USD (700 Roubles. 22.60 CAD. 22.80 AUD. 16 Euros. 13.50 UK Pounds) to have a certified copy printed. On the other hand, you could wait 6-8 weeks to have it mailed to you and pay 22 USD plus up to 19.95 USD (635 Roubles. 20.50 CAD. 20.75 AUD. 14.50 Euros. 12.25 UK Pounds) in mailing costs.
More importantly, women who’ve been voting the same way for years would likely go to the polls in the same way they always have, unaware the changes mean they could no longer vote and that they, in all likelihood, would’ve needed to begin the process to acquire copies of their legal documents months beforehand. That means this time next year, it won’t just be Texas, and it won’t just be nine obscure amendments to a state constitution. Millions of women, young and old, could go to the polls just as they’ve always done and realise that, this time, the only thing that the State of Texas would allow them to do is to watch their husbands vote.
18 October 2013
Voice of Russia World Service
Editor’s Note:
This sort of gnarly and goofy law isn’t new in Texas. Anglo Texas has a crank and crook culture resulting from the fact that East Texas was one of the most brutal and vicious parts of the Slaver South (besides being the most nativist and ignorant part of the state, and the most “Dixie”). After all, the so-called Texas Revolt came about because American slave-owners in Texas refused to follow Mexican law, to free their slaves (ponder the fact that these brutish criminals are held in high regard in Anglo Texas). In fact, at first, US President Van Buren refused to take in this bunch of slaving barbarians, and his successor, Tyler, couldn’t muster congressional support for a war of annexation until the very end (more due to personal opposition to Tyler… even though Santa Anna gave them an excuse through his nasty and bloody tactics). Texas definitively became part of the USA due to James K Polk, a proslavery and pro-Manifest Destiny monster (Polk resolved to steal Northwestern Mexico (present-day Southwestern USA)… he did that, too… most Americans don’t realise that 19th century Americans were Hitler’s model for his ideology of Lebensraum). In fact, a good chunk of the contemporary State of Texas is actually from the former Mexican territory of Nuevo México, it wasn’t part of the Mexican land of Tejas (that is, it wasn’t Texas at all). In short, the twisted history of Anglo Texas means that the contemptible actions of Texas Republicans shouldn’t surprise one. The gender gap doesn’t favour the Republicans, so, it shouldn’t surprise one that the Republican Party would try to disenfranchise women, Mexicans, and blacks.
Orthodox people should reflect on the fact that John Whiteford supports this crook cultural bloc (I, on the other hand, consider the San Patricio Battalion heroes, and I believe that the USA should return its ill-gotten gains to its rightful owner, Mexico). Do we really wish the Church to be considered an ally of the godless and grasping Republicans? I’d say not…
By the way, it’s MUCH easier getting one’s documents here in New York State… then again, we’re not trying to disenfranchise anybody (we’re not Dixie, after all)…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
Engaged Couple Imprisoned in Abu Dhabi for Sex Outside Marriage… Trump Loves the UAE and Refuses to Put Them on His Ban List
Tags: Abu Dhabi, Crime, Crime and Justice, Islamic fundamentalism, Islamism, Islamist, Law, Law and Justice, legal affairs, Persian Gulf Region, political commentary, politics, True Crime, UAE
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Editor:
Note well that Trump does NOT put the KSA and its Gulf stooges on the ban list, but they’re the ones ramming Islamic law down people’s throats the hardest. As for me, I don’t care what people do behind their closed doors, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else or involve children in their fancies. If you want to fuck a duck, go ahead… as long as it’s OK with the duck. Reflect well on this… Evangelicals want to criminalise abortion and all other sorts of things that they don’t like. It seems to me that Evangelicals and Islamists are brothers under the skin. Mike Pence is a fanatical Evangelical who tossed a woman in prison for a miscarriage. He’s no different from these Gulf State yahoos. Pray for Trump’s health… for the alternative is Pence… a truly feral and evil man, an American Wahhabist if there ever was such…
Yes… there are “Christians” who resemble the Wahhabis… and they’re “nice” and “sincere” and “moral”. Excuse me, I need to find a corner to be sick in…
BMD
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A relative said that the authorities arrested a South African man and his Ukrainian fiancée in Abu Dhabi after a doctor discovered that the woman was pregnant. They arrested Emlyn Culverwell, 29, and Irina Nogai, 27 for unlawful sex outside of marriage. The arrests came after Nogai, who was suffering from stomach cramps, went to Medeor Medical Centre in Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi, where a doctor told her she was pregnant. Having sex outside of marriage is illegal in the UAE, and those convicted of it can face long jail sentences. Reportedly, the couple was in detention since 29 January, but details of their arrests are just emerging.
Police arrested Culverwell and Nogai at the hospital for not being able to provide marriage certificates. They took them first to the Yas Police Station, and then later brought them to al-Wathba Prison. However, they didn’t yet charge them because the authorities are still investigating the child’s paternity, how long the couple was sexually active, and are testing Nogai’s HIV status. The couple became engaged just two days before their arrest, on 27 January. Culverwell worked in the UAE for the past five years as a water rescue operative at Yas Waterworld. He started dating Nogai, who worked as an administration officer, in mid-2014.
The South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation said that it couldn’t help the couple because it is an issue with domestic UAE law, according to News24, and suggested that they seek legal help. Times Live reported that legal representation for Culverwell and Nogai could cost up to 118‚000 South African rands ($8‚000) per person. Culverwell’s mother, Linda, said that Nogai was still in the early stages of her pregnancy, and suggested that the cramps could be a sign of a miscarriage. She pleaded for their release, saying, “The only thing they did wrong was fall in love”. Linda described her son as a health fanatic who didn’t smoke, take drugs, or drink alcohol. She told News24 that her family is “trying to get messages to the two to say we love them and they shouldn’t be worried”. Linda said that since the couple’s arrest, family members and friends have been unable to contact them. She said that the only people who can visit the couple are family members who share the same last name, and relatives are currently calculating the costs of making a trip to Abu Dhabi with lawyers.
According to Herald Live, since their arrest, a Christian Church in Yas Island in the UAE offered to marry the couple for a lofty price, but a judge refused to allow it. Nogai is guilty of Zina, the Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse, which the UAE has criminalised. The UAE authorities either deport women and couples found guilty of Zina or imprison them in the country for at least a year. They imprison hundreds of women each year for the crime, including pregnant women and rape victims.
8 March 2017
Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4294774/Couple-detained-UAE-sex-outside-marriage.html?ito=social-facebook