Guess who's spurring on the Neo-Confederate lunacy of Greg Abbott and other Republican governors? As Mark Sumner reports, Putin's chief deputy Dmitry Medvedev has tweeted, “Establishing a People's Republic of Texas is getting more and more real."
"Russia is reportedly using its propaganda machine to push hard on this issue, seizing on a dispute between the federal government and Texas as a means of distracting the U.S. from the war in Ukraine."
Yet: "The story has generated exactly zero articles in The New York Times and scant attention anywhere else in the national media."
Who benefits from the media's refusal to deal with this major story? Republicans.
A century & a half ago, Confederate Gen Joseph Orville Shelby splashed into the wild waters of the Rio Grande off this border city & fled to Mexico, refusing to surrender to Union soldiers.
Now the park named in his honor (?) has become a front line in a feud between the #state & the #federal govt — a power struggle over who ultimately has the right to control the border….
#Texas#NationalGuard Humvees carry rifle-toting troops & patrol newly erected gates to the municipal park previously used for family cookouts & Independence Day festivities. Tents, military trucks, heavy equipment & portable toilets dot the edge of a browning fairway. Along the riverbank, Gov #GregAbbott (R) has ordered the state National Guard to deploy coils of #RazorWire, rusting shipping containers & dirt-filled barrels to declare his state’s sovereignty. #state#federal#Biden#immigration
In a Shelby-like act of defiance, the governor is invoking the state’s right to defend itself against what he sees as an invasion. #Abbott made national headlines when he seized the park in #EaglePass this month & shut out U.S. #Border Patrol agents who had long used the terrain as a staging point — action the governor’s supporters saw as a take-charge move, while his detractors viewed it as a dangerous #overreach of #state#power.
The feud between #Abbott & the #Biden admin is heating up just as the presidential #election campaign gets underway. The issue has galvanized #Republicans, some of whom are now questioning the merits of a #bipartisan#border package tied to #Ukraine#aid after #Trump called it “meaningless.” #POTUS Biden has been pushed to take a harsher stance — declaring Fri that he would “shut down” the southern border when illegal crossings surge.
#Mexicans who cross legally make up ~½ of #EaglePass’s workforce; many US residents also cross the river to work. While local government & the school district have been Eagle Pass’s biggest employers historically, residents are increasingly landing jobs w/ the #Border Patrol & large manufacturers. Still, nearly a ¼ of the population — about 2X the #Texas avg — lives in #poverty.
Unprecedented migration has made this #border county’s 74 miles of riverfront the scene of an unfolding #human & #constitutional drama. The huge number of #migrants who have crossed the river & the crackdown designed to stop that flow have attracted the attention of everyone from #ImmigrantRights activists to #racist#militias curious to see whether the #federal supremacy that withstood a civil war will survive once more.
…It’s been nearly two years since #Abbott & other #Republican governors began traveling to this Democratic-voting Tejano city for news conferences denouncing “open borders” & unveiling plans to deploy #Texas#troops & drop river buoys. The #state’s #border w/ #Mexico is an #international boundary under the #jurisdiction of #federal authorities, but Abbott & his allies contend they have the right to intervene because the #Biden admin hasn’t done enough….
The combustible mix of #RightWing anger coming together in #Texas
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“In recent weeks, #GregAbbott’s efforts have grown much more contentious, w/ Texas #law enforcement seizing control of a park along the river in #EaglePass that is used by the #federal#Border Patrol. Texas ofcls are now blocking access to the park by federal law enforcement, a move that has earned the endorsement of dozens of #Republican governors in other states.
#SCOTUS sided w/ the #Biden admin on Mon & cleared the way for #border patrol agents to remove #RazorWire#Texas ofcls installed along a busy stretch of the southern border until the legality of the barriers is resolved in court.
4 conservatives — Justices #ClarenceThomas, Samuel #Alito, Neil #Gorsuch & Brett #Kavanaugh — noted their dissents w/o explanation.
I hate #GregAbbott but almost every social media "joke" about his usage of a wheelchair makes me super uncomfortable. Legitimate criticism of his hypocrisy is fine, but quit with the jokes about pushing him down a hill or whatever. #ableism#disability#SocialMedia
Things are escalating quickly at the #border, as the Texas governor continues to openly challenge the authority of the federal government, and the human rights of immigrants.