#Eagle Pass

[unteriors]

Desolation Row, Eagle Pass, Texas.

[rednblacksalamander]

Tensions on the border escalate between the Feds (very very bad) and the Texas National Guard (somehow even worse).

[tomorrowusa]

Exactly what language is Trump speaking? Professional translators are often baffled. But we do hear echoes of 1930s Germany in his diminishing attempts at communication.

Trump echoes Nazi propaganda and pushes lie that ‘no one speaks languages’ of migrants in wild border speech

This vid includes Trump's pseudo-English at Eagle Pass.

If you're an English teacher, get your students to attempt to transcribe some of Trump's attempts at human speech.

[sumbluespruce]

Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis)

7/11/23 phone photo, I tried to lay down but the red ants were on the war path. Now that I am retired I haven’t seen too many.

[inkandguns]

From @jc_severance on X

[rabbitcruiser]

Benches/Chairs (No. 83)

Revelstoke, BC (two pics)

Craigellachie Station, Eagle Pass, BC

Hope, BC (five pics)

Vancouver, BC (two pics)

[puntointerrogativo]

What the actual fuck is happening in Texas now

[prcg]

México probablemente desatará una ola de inmigrantes después de las elecciones

TAPACHULA, México – Una pista me llevó a 40 kilómetros al norte de esta ciudad fronteriza deprimida, en un auto alquilado, hasta que vi la vista inconfundible: una caravana de 1.000 migrantes marchando a pie a lo largo de la Carretera México 200 durante cientos de yardas. Hombres, mujeres, niños y bebés se balanceaban y se entrelazaban formando una manada humana alargada y colorida. Pasé el día…

[rabid-dog-steve-horn]

I Went To The Mexico Border at Eagle Pass. It Was Very Confusing. (Full ...

[unteriors]

Desolation Row, Eagle Pass, Texas.

[macwantspeace]

Meanwhile in loco news... Oops, I meant local. 57 South Music Festival, planned a year ago for the eclipse, smashed by Gov Abbott seizing the city park in Eagle Pass. Razor wire and a standing armed presence. Fortified. Constant talk about an invasion of criminal immigrants when it isn't happening. There was even a maga national caravan started in Virginia to come swooping down to stop those illegals. They didn't find any so they cruised downtown and got into fistfights with each other. AG Paxton is harassing the shelters in El Paso for providing aid. SB4 provides that any brown person can be stopped and arrested if they are deemed to be "illegal". And yet, I say in San Antonio, which is the first stop up from the border, I never see any invasion. We do have a flow of processed folks traveling on. They can stay at the San Antonio Migrant Resources facility. Catholic Charities of Rio Grande Valley, and of San Antonio provide aid.

[joe-england]

Eagle Pass, TX Residents Sound Off on the Real "Invasion" | The Daily Show

[readingsquotes]

Abbott upped the ante again. The state of Texas would be building a military base near Eagle Pass, to host up to 2,300 soldiers on a permanent base, allowing Abbott and future governors to “amass a large army in a strategic area.” The state calls this a “forward operating base.” That’s War on Terror lingo: FOBs were the satellite bases constructed in-country during the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

....

To describe a base in Eagle Pass, though, it’s a little strange. It’s American soil. What is it forward of? It will have plenty of creature comforts, though. The base, The Texas Observer reported, could cost up to $500 million — on top of $10 billion already allocated to Abbott’s border security schemes in the last three years. The base will have “51 dorms, 15 ‘executive suites,’ three command centers, two motor pools, boat maintenance facilities, and a helipad,” along with “a host of amenities including a 15,000-square-foot dining facility with 24-hour service of ‘chef-driven meals’ and ‘buffet style meals,’ a fully equipped fitness center, a recreation center with a library and arcade, an outdoor basketball court, and a sand volleyball court.”

Even in a rich state like Texas, $500 million is real money. The state’s schools rank among the lowest states in per-student spending, and the state has one of highest uninsured rates in the country. The federal government recently offered the state money for free school lunches this summer; it declined, saying that the relevant agency was too busy throwing two million people off of the state’s Medicaid program to do anything else. Abbott has been governor for a decade, and it is difficult to say what he has succeeded in doing to improve the lives of his constituents. His legacy consists entirely of keeping a few people out, at fabulous expense.

...

What drives Abbott, I ask? I’ve been writing about him for ten years, and I still can’t detect much in him other than an insensitivity to other people’s suffering and an unfocused ambition that comes out mostly as a desire to see other powerful men bend the knee. Maybe that’s all there is, says Nevárez. He notes that Abbott has always been “very well protected” politically. “He basically was protected into the governorship,” Nevárez says. “They ran off other would-be challengers. He had a lot of people around to run a lot of interference for him.” Abbott rose almost purely by momentum to become the governor of what might be the most important state in the country, and wins reelection effortlessly. “What does that do to somebody, their ego, their ambition?” asks Nevárez.

Abbott’s political instincts are both “terrible and amazing,” he says. “These are all fucking awful things he does and says and promotes. They only seem to work for a small segment of the state. And they defy, you know, humanity and goodness on a lot of levels. They defy good government and fiscal responsibility.” He gives as an example the state’s foster care system, which regularly sees little kids — citizens, as if that matters — drowned and beaten to death because Texas can’t figure out how to hire enough caseworkers. “In the case of these foster kids, they defy morality at its core.”

“He’s suffered from none of it and probably will never suffer,” Nevárez continues. “These decisions he’s made are all fucking awful, but they’re incredibly effective — they work.” So far, the standoff in Eagle Pass has been effective too. Abbott’s approval rating in Texas is close to the highest it’s ever been, no small feat given how long he has been in office. Most importantly, the border standoff has helped him consolidate support among the right wing of his party, which has often been shaky in the last decade.

Ask Americans what they think about the border, and it’s a mess. There’s agreement that the border should be secure. But even Texans — much less folks in Michigan — don’t necessarily know what that means or how to get there. They may not know what asylum is. This issue isn’t in most people’s vocabulary. They may not know that many folks who try to cross the river are trying to turn themselves in to authorities. They may not know that the border was essentially open a few generations ago, and that it is more locked down today than it has ever been. The confusion makes this fertile ground for politicians like Abbott and Trump."

[circleandsquarecomic]

Circle is Diligent

[macwantspeace]

I saw a map a couple days ago of AirBnB booked on April 7. 100% along the stripe. Eagle Pass had set up plans for a music festival in the city park on eclipse day. Gov Abbott seized and fortified the park. They tried to move to something nearby. The festival tanked.