Take a Deep Breath
The Status Quo is almost Certainly Awaiting the Midterms Before Changing
Hello again friends,
The headline for today’s newsletter is almost advice to oneself. Despite what seem to be efforts to bury some bad news over the weekend by the administration, one really doesn’t expect any major stories to break in the border crisis until after the upcoming elections.
If something does break, it’ll be an unexpected disaster of some sort, or perhaps a breaking news development overseas.
It’s not a great stretch to expect the administration and others to all be waiting to see what happens in various mid-term races— both for spin, and perhaps also to determine if there are any apparent mandates from the voters.
Most recent polling has been suggesting Texas is going red as hell. But, perhaps in response to that, out came trotting Karl Rove to tell us all something along the lines of, “Eh— polling’s kind of garbage anyway.”
And, now— here’s some more polls that say the race is close!
Rove is mostly correct. Modern polling is a pointless disaster, destroyed by the proliferation of cellphones and call-screening. But, like a collection of sick old dogs that can’t resist licking up their own vomit, most news organizations can’t resist running stories about the latest polling.
We mentioned efforts to bury news Friday:
At one time, we thought everyone knew that the Federal Government and other major organizations were predictable in their efforts to dump bad news on Friday afternoons and nights, but we keep running into folks that don’t want to believe it, or never considered the possibility before.
This is something that has been a long-standing tradition, going all the way back to the Reagan years and beyond.
Even so, that didn’t stop some online “experts” from trying to dismiss it as a made-up controversy Friday night— much the same way they’ve spent the last 2 years trying to claim the border crisis wasn’t real.
Some critics tried to ameliorate those bonkers numbers in the tweet above, by suggesting past years saw higher— but with fewer arrests. So it’s all okay. See? Go back to watching the tv— there’s no border crisis.
Former Trump cabinet figure General Michael Flynn is the target of a not-unexpected Frontline PBS documentary— fanning progressive panic about “far-right” Christian beliefs.
The General has been part of a low-key nationwide tour, drumming up awareness of the border crisis and other issues. It’s had the tenor and tone of an old Baptist tent revival in some ways, near as we can tell, just going by the fliers we’ve seen and comments made by some who’ve attended, and it’s no surprise to us that such a thing has been rather alarming to certain folks who’ve never encountered revivalism on the TV before.
This whole time, we’ve just assumed the man has bills to pay, and viewed this as a worthwhile way to so. But apparently, Flynn and his enablers are fashioning the next biggest threat against our Democracy, since the last biggest threat. Don’t quote us. That’s our emergency toilet-flush perspective on things, based on a 2 second survey of twitter-takes.
It’s worth noting— efforts to single him out or cause alarm over this will only burnish the man’s reputation in some not-insignificant quarters of the population. These are basically folks who aren’t particularly religious— but will decide he must have something going for him, if PBS is going to wring its hands like this. People who’ve internalized a deep distrust of the press and reporters.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a mention of Father Clay Hunt, whose story remains one of our most widely read here.
Since we last spoke, Father Clay started up a youtube channel that broadcast his typically uplifting and positive sentiments to those looking for them and him. One of the things about his situation is that he’s banned from criticizing the church on social media.
Consequently, many of his messages also shared on instagram tend to be long on the history of the faith— Saints, their feast days— why they matter, and why the lessons of their lives still have some relevance to us today. One imagines that his orthodox statements on many subjects must be uncomfortable in a time when the church seems to be trying to soften the way it is perceived in some areas.
A recent video commenting on current politics has seen Father Clay suspended for a week and raises the specter of his possibly being deplatformed. In the deleted video, Father Clay took aim at what he calls Marxist Democrats, expressed support for claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and expressed support for people still locked up over subsequent events on January 6th.
The video is no longer available on Father Clay’s channel. But you can find it at the website ChurchMilitant.com
Father Clay’s struggles with the Archbishop of San Antonio, Gustavo Garcia-Siller, continue to await a full hearing in the Church’s Canon courts in Rome.
We spent a lot of time last week wondering if anyone would be picking up on Texas Monthly’s last report about Operation Lone Star and how it seems certain lawsuits against the State of Texas have been getting quietly discouraged and squelched by the ACLU of Texas.
But so far— no one seems willing to pick up where reporter Aaron Nelsen leaves off.
Weird.
And on that note, we’ll call it a morning.
Have a great Monday— and we’ll see you again soon.
As always, this newsletter is produced without oversight and should not be mistaken as some kind of an official communication by Kinney County Officials.
Any errors, opinions, or other misdeeds contained within are entirely our own.
“Texas is a mastermind at manipulating the way the legal system is supposed to work.” As if Texas has a lock on the process. And, the back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys helps to keep lawyers employed and politicians secure in their shenanigans by making it seem as though they care and are doing something for the little guy. What tickles me, however, is the claim that illegals are escaping the cartels that make big bucks transporting and directing the operation. And, if you don't follow their rules you die. Ummm...but I want to come to America where I can be free. Actually, the whole operation is no different than indentured servants coming over on the Mayflower.