Local Reaction Gets Mighty Fresh

And, Just What is Going on in Uvalde?

Hello again Friends,

A portion of our local readership in Kinney County has been understandably hot under the collar after our last newsletter— bringing the Houston Chronicle to their attention.

It’s safe to say, most folks ‘round these parts don’t normally read the Chronicle— and probably wouldn’t even if they did live in Houston.

The Houston Chronicle has a reputation for progressiveness, let’s say.

One imagines there are more than a few folks in Texas that are willing to accept the Chronicle’s straight-faced coverage of recent events in Austin, that Attorney David Schulman meant exactly what he’s quoted as saying, and wasn’t trying to get to some other larger point. We call them likely Beto voters. Here’s the relevant newsletter below, for your convenience:

Hired Attorney Representing Lone Star Prosecution Has a Crisis of Opinion

As it happens, we here at the Dispatch were able to reach Mr. Schulman by telephone. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. We had to go up on Google, type his name into the little box, along with the word “attorney” and find the website for his legal practice.

Then we had to call the phone number for his office that was visible on that website and leave an awkward voice mail message, identifying ourselves, where we were from, and why we were calling.

It was a nightmare! Don’t know how reporters used to survive before the internet, readers. So difficult.

Mr. Schulman called us back the next time working hours rolled around and we had a pleasant conversation. As we suspected, he was trying to make a point about how the case he was to argue should have nothing to do with Operation Lone Star, and should be considered solely on its own merits— a proposition that the panel of Austin judges seemed to have no interest in. He was also trying to make a legal point about the state’s responsibilities toward the accused.

A Recent Smuggling Attempt in Kinney County, Image Courtesy: Kinney County Sheriff’s Office

Mr. Schulman also noted that in his time as an appellate court attorney he’s never seen such a display. We’re paraphrasing of course. It may be that another reporter will follow our master class in how to find people online as we’ve described above and get slightly different quotes from him.

And it may also be that he has no interest in talking to reporters in general, after this experience, and only spoke with us because we mentioned being from Kinney County. It should be noted, that the Chronicle did update their reporting to include County Attorney Brent Smith’s recent statement on the subject. Indeed, one suspects the Chronicle surely must have made an effort to reach Mr. Schulman, but failed.

Reaction in the community has so far been fairly uniform— readers may recall our not-so-recent description of the prevalence of old-fashioned scots-irish sensibilities that are present in the community. It was a whole thing, and some writing we’re still very pleased with, but we’ll sum it up by saying such sensibilities lend themselves to clannish sentiments, and prickly natures when feeling hard done by.

One local resident who we’ve given the nom de guerre “Local Wag,” was especially succinct in his take, after hearing what Mr. Schulman’s side of things was. “Oh. So, it was basically a chickenshit ‘gotcha’ hit piece,” said Local Wag. Mr. Wag so far is the only one willing to use that kind of language in our presence, but the sentiment is probably not unique to him.

We won’t identify Mr. Wag— but we will say he’s a private citizen that is unlikely to run for local office at any time soon. That chin of his just wags too freely. Long-time readers may recall some past newsletters where we’ve referred to him as “A local Wag,” he’s a reliable quote farm when you’re looking for something spicy or naughty but also relevant.

Given the uniformity of irritation and annoyance with the article that we’ve encountered, we actually find ourselves in the awkward position of reflexively trying to explain or somehow justify the Houston Chronicle’s reporting. Which is a perverseness, given that we’re not getting paid by them.

However, it’s worth noting that the article was accurate in quoting Mr. Schulman, and accurate in quoting the judges. And pretty dang accurate in its presentation of information about what all has gone on before. It’s not easy, summarizing all of these issues in tidy black and white blocks.

It could be argued that the piece has been a bit of a public service— potentially highlighting issues with the 4th Court of Appeals. Or not. Who knows? We don’t.

But, when it comes to looking for an explanation or meaning behind Mr. Schulman’s words, the piece is a bit shallow. “Attorney representing Operation Lone Star cases calls program a waste of time,” is a lot catchier and easier to latch onto for Beto voters than “Attorney representing Operation Lone Star cases gets shutdown by Appeals Court.”

Both statements would be technically correct, and probably pleasing to the imaginary Beto voters we’ve been talking about, but one is without question a whole lot sexier than the other. The editors at the Houston Chronicle have made a rational decision from where they’re sitting— a decision they’ll make each and every time and twice on Friday, especially during an election.

It is probably no coincidence that such a headline is being seized upon by progressives all over the state, desperate for a life raft to cling to as Beto O’Rourke seems to be fading in the polls. Texas Democrats are putting a brave face on the thing— but those conservative titans at Politico seem rather bearish on the subject. That’s a joke— the titan thing. Their take, that Beto is fading, isn’t.

Such are the times we are living in, that ultimately, the Schulman piece will probably do nothing to convince anyone to drop their support for Operation Lone Star, just as so much of the reporting in other places has done nothing to convince progressives to change their minds. Minds are all made up already and positions are calcified. The only thing that’s seemed to make a difference recently has been the political theatre involving flights of aliens and migrants to New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington.

So, what to say to Kinney County residents that may still be exercised about that article in the Houston Chronicle? Don’t be. At the end of the day, it seems like no progressives really care what you think. Sorry. That may sting a little bit. But these sorts of things frequently do. They really don’t seem to care what you think. Or about the economic trials you’re going through, or the low-grade constant strain and worry we’ve all been feeling in the face of this chaotic border crisis. One suspects that a portion don’t even really care to find true solutions to the plights of the immigrants and aliens. Some make mouth noises, mumbling certain palliative word salads that we’ve pointed out in various editorial pages, but such word salads are inevitably followed by the keystone of “but,” or “however,” or some other such thing that usually signals: “everything preceding this word means nothing to us.”

We’ll use it in a sentence: “One can’t help but feel sympathy for the plight of border residents, faced with economic losses, and constant safety worries, in the face of historic border migration, but, that doesn’t excuse the callous decisions…” etc etc.

You see?

Readers can take comfort in the fact, perhaps, that in the long run— what Mr. Local Wag has termed: “Chickenshit gotcha stories,” ultimately harm those publishing them more than those they try to dunk upon. A negative piece in the Houston Chronicle isn’t going to degrade Governor Greg Abbott’s commitment to Operation Lone Star. At best, it’s merely going to give some hardcore progressives a nice soft huggable little safety blanket to cling to, allowing them to continue their refusal to face their own cognitive dissonance about what’s happening at the border. But it does continue the ongoing degradation of credibility that is plaguing the fourth estate in general, resulting in fewer people being willing to pay for their work, or grant them interviews.

Operation Lone Star is never going to fix the border crisis on its own. It’s a start. It’s certainly given a life raft to communities all along the border that have been drowning in costs and safety panic.

What many progressives have refused to face, is the fact that conditions prior to Operation Lone Star were bound to lead to more deaths and more human miseries.

The border remains dangerous. Something more must be done to turn this firehose flow of human suffering into a more manageable stream or preferably a cessation of what’s enabling this strange brand of quasi-legal asylum abuse, or we will simply see more deaths, more human degradation, and more money fall into the hands of cartel smugglers.

Don’t expect anything to change or happen until after the election however. One imagines the Governor will want to point to any kind of a perceived mandate, and will want to be able to count upon Congressional support for any further actions.

For ourselves here at the Dispatch: It would be a tragedy if “Operation Lone Star” eventually just became another river of pork-barrel spending like “The War on Drugs,” or “The War on Terror.” It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for dusty little border towns like Brackettville, Del Rio and Eagle Pass. It would mean more state tax income at the expense of other communities. It would also mean a few more law-enforcement families moving to the area. Have to love that.

But it would also ultimately mean a betrayal of the State’s taxpayers at large and perhaps also a betrayal of the special relationship that has existed between Texas and Mexico for so many years in spite of the hard feelings immediately following the Texas Revolution. It would be a disaster for the rest of the state and country.

Throwing taxpayer money at the problem— building tent cities and welcome wagons only means you need more and bigger tent cities and welcome wagons. It’s like traffic congestion in Austin. Build a bigger I-35. You’ll just have more traffic on I-35. Make your city a haven for the homeless? You’ll just have more homeless.

Weird.

It is telling that New York City is predicting a $1-Billion-dollar tab for the aliens and migrants that have been bused there. They’ve seen a pittance of what’s already crossed the border, and it’s going to cost them $1-Billion-dollars. Texas seems to be getting its lion’s share done cheaper, but even so, this cannot be sustained.

We are all of us being beggared by our own generosity, and few seem willing to ask the obvious: Isn’t there a better way? Couldn’t there be some kind of worker’s visa expansion, paired up with tighter voter registration (ID’s and no amnesties) and stricter border controls? Seems simple enough, right?

Weird.

We haven’t been paying the closest attention to matters in Uvalde. It’s almost been too painful to watch, as the community has seemed to be tearing itself apart, poked and prodded by outside agitators from the left and the right in the wake of the Robb Elementary school shooting.

Brett Cross, Protestor Conducting Recent Long-Term Protest & Vigil Outside Uvalde CISD Headquarters. Image Courtesy: Evan L’Roy, The Texas Tribune

We are aware of activists from various progressive groups in San Antonio who have flocked to the place, beating their breasts about the NRA and other inconsequentialities.

We are also aware of various solo agitators from the Right, who pose as 1st-amendment supporters, but mainly seem to exist to feather their nests via lawsuits and the pursuit of clout. Grifters, basically.

Uvalde resident Brett Cross, shown in the photo above seems to be part of a legitimate and local expression of grief, and of the burning demand for accountability. Here’s a link to the Texas Tribune’s coverage of him and what he’s been doing.

It’s all been so sad for us to think about, that we’ve tried to avoid it— trusting in our neighbors and their own good, native, horse-sense to eventually see them through it. Indeed, it felt like it would be the height of idiocy for us here in Kinney County to pop off and say “Eyyy, Uvalde— here’s how you should do it, wakka wakka wakka.”

Can you imagine? The stomach revolts.
Current events in Uvalde have been compelling, following the discovery that a DPS trooper negatively singled out for their response to the Robb Elementary School shooting was being hired by the School District Police Force. Since that revelation, the District has suspended its entire police department, and there’s talk the Superintendent of Schools is going to resign.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it seems like some of this maybe should’ve happened sooner. It seems like part of the problem is that you have so many different governing bodies involved in the aftermath of things, that there has been no one individual willing to step up and say “the buck stops here.”

It’s a bit of a funhouse mirror image of the law-enforcement disaster that happened on the day of the shooting. The School Board answers to state bureaucrats and local voters. The Mayor doesn’t really control the School Board. He and the local Sheriff mostly answer to local voters. DPS answers to the State & Governor. Border Patrol answers to the Feds. It’s a messy jumble and no one seems willing to jump on any grenades or deliver any sort of clear decisive leadership. It may be that clear decisive leadership is impossible, given so many separate fiefdoms and ricebowls. And that’s a pathetic tragedy.

But, it’s called jumping on a grenade, because you’re jumping on a grenade. As sacrifices go— metaphorical grenades are marginal, compared to the awful sacrifice already tallied at Robb Elementary.

Whoever identified what seems to be a case of double-dealing and four-flushing involved in the matter of this DPS Trooper getting hired by the School District deserves a big pat on the back, and perhaps some sincere gratitude.

And here’s the thing: The reporters involved in this discovery, are probably no better or worse than the reporters everyone gets upset with whenever a given news story breaks in a direction they don’t like. Or to put it another way: You don’t get the great jobs and good performances without the occasional piece that could possibly be accused of being a “chickenshit gotcha” hit piece. That doesn’t mean don’t get upset. And it doesn’t mean be stingy with praise. It means be realistic.

The journalists that have dug up this latest mess in Uvalde are doing their job. Think of journalists as dogs. They do what they do. Sometimes they pull the drowning baby out of the pool, and sometimes they tear up the house while you’re gone.

Woof.

Final thoughts re: The Houston Chronicle. Longtime readers have seen us link extensively to their past reporting on the sex trade in Houston. Stellar stuff. Valuable.

Readers will be justified in holding on to a certain amount of outrage about this piece Mr. Local Wag has disparaged. Time was, a bad article in the newspaper was tomorrow’s bird cage liner and fish wrapper, so nobody cared as much. The internet has changed that to some degree— critical articles of people and places have much greater durability.

Consider this, however: If one were to encounter a situation where the State of Texas and the Governor's Office was stepping on a small border community— who would you turn to cover it? You could try reaching out to more conservative outlets. But if you really want to turn things up to 11, you’d also turn to places like the Houston Chronicle, The Texas Tribune, and many others, assuming it was a Republican Governor doing the stepping.

Keep on keeping on, folks. Do what you do. Be constant. Say a thing, do a thing. Get it right, get it done well— whatever you’re doing. Take care of your self. Tomorrow’s demands will be just as urgent and rewarding as today’s, so be ready to meet them.

We’ve been a little hard on progressives this morning. It’s worth taking a step back. Even in Kinney County, you can find neighbors that are progressives. We’re all deserving of the same love and respect. If you feel hard done by, send us an email. We probably won’t apologize for the words, but we’ll stand you a coffee. Or a burger, or even a hug, if you’d like one. And that’s no joke. Hugs are awesome. Friends and neighbors should be able to work around disagreements. And anyone reading this is a friend and a neighbor.

And on that note— love your neighbor, and love your self. We’ll see you again soon.

As always, this newsletter is published independently of our day job at the Kinney County Sheriff’s Office, we bring this affiliation to your attention out of a sense of obligation to note possible bias and to remain in keeping with Kinney County policies regarding social media.

Any opinions, errors, and garbage interpretations and takes contained within are entirely our own. So too are any decisions to publish the occasional naughty word. Readers should not mistake anything here for an official communication by Kinney County.

Have a great morning.