Texas, Others Blasting White House

And, Landowners Blast VIPS in Kinney County

Good morning, friends,

The headline and sub-headline for today’s newsletter are accurate but they’ve been deliberately chosen. It is true that the Governor of Texas and the governors of certain other States have written some sternly worded letters taking the Feds and the White House to task for the ongoing failures at the border and the present display of overreach, amid calls from certain Democrats wanting the White House to send federal troops or something.

It is also true that some very frustrated and disappointed local and area landowners took the opportunity to voice their displeasure to State and Congressional figures that made the trip out to Kinney County as guests, as anyone could have predicted ahead of yesterday’s informational meeting about ongoing efforts by Texas legislators and others.

If one hasn’t been keeping up with these events online, can’t hardly blame you. Here’s some FOX News reporting that goes into some of the online theatre that people are responding to.

But, let’s not make too much out of current events. They are notable, they are ‘extreme,’ certainly historic by most measures, but the way a few folks out there on X/twitter and Facebook and elsewhere are acting, you’d think it was time to pack up the rifles and tents and run for the border.

This is not that time.

Right now, Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he’s counting on the support of 15, possibly 25 other States that have been supporting the State of Texas through this crisis, presumably signaling some kind of willingness to stand up to the federal government. That’s not exactly weak tea, even if it might taste like it to area Texans who’ve had their patience ground down to the very last scraps.

Not having had time to fully digest everything out there— busy yesterday— we find ourselves echoing Breitbart’s Randy Clark who posted his take on current events last night. Adult language and a couple typos ahoy:

Mr. Clark’s choice of a popular Homer Simpson meme there at the end is indicative of the way these Governors and others are liable to disappear into the nearest cover, leaving any kind of Conservative activists to hang separately, if you are unfamiliar with the meme and its context.

There are smart people out there who we largely appreciate who are disagreeing vehemently in Mr. Clark’s comments, arguing that he is mistaken.

However— given all that has already happened throughout the course of events along the Rio Grande, we cannot argue otherwise. It seems to us, that it would be folly to overreact on the basis of some sternly worded letters.

Paper, ink, these are cheap. So are words, no matter how stirring.

Individuals should consider matters. Make a few mental calculations. And then perhaps continue to wait and see what happens next.

That’s our advice about this “Civil War II, Electric Boogaloo” silliness that seems to have so many folks stirred up. Be stirred up— but don’t risk your freedom and livelihood— not for some cheap words.

We are still going over yesterday’s landowner’s meeting in our thoughts and hesitate to publish them while only half-baked.

But the way events seem to be possibly overtaking us all, it may be a case of publish now or don’t even bother.

Based on the feedback specific to the damaged property reimbursement program, the biggest flaw is going to be that it only covers what is called ‘real property.’ That is, damage to fences, gates, waterlines etc. It seems that lawmakers were unable to extend things to cover the costs of lost livestock.

Exotic game hunting is one of the few things that brings money to the area. And exotic game ranches can have individual animals that are literally worth as much as $50,000 dollars or more, especially if they are breeding stock not actually meant for hunting themselves.

One downed fence in the wrong pasture, and that kind of money can disappear.

We found ourselves getting very annoyed as one of the VIPs, we didn’t see which one, quipped that if he had that kind of money in an animal, he’d be keeping it in the house or the front yard. Our most charitable take, is that he probably had an attack of nervousness, realizing the program has a serious possible flaw and they’d have no answer for it until the next legislative session. And— he could probably also tell the crowd was getting surly.

Sometime after that, it seemed the floodgates opened, and residents began trying to unload and express about 3-years’ worth of tension and stress.

“I can’t leave my house at night,” “I want to be able to train my horses, on my property, in my arena,” “I’m an American!”

Those are words taken from our imperfect memory— spoken by a woman in the back corner of the Civic Center. They may not be verbatim, but the sentiment is accurate.

Others expressed a point that was not lost on the VIP’s in attendance— that Lawmakers have been telling Texans that they’ll do something about the border next session. Next chance they get. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, in other words.

And here it is, 3 years on, and the only thing that’s changed is that the Crisis seems to be worse with obviously illegal migrants enjoying greater protections and greater concern for their welfare than US Citizens, many of whom are struggling and receiving little to no notice.

For what it is worth, most of the VIPs seemed to bear the verbal beatdown in the spirit it was intended, promising to carry their concerns back to Washington or Austin.

Small comfort for most in attendance, we imagine, but people will need to hold on to their representational resentment if anything is going to change.

There’s more fruit on the rind here, and we can’t help but wish we had a little more time for cogitation before publishing— we’ve honestly tried very hard throughout the newsletter’s existence to avoid careening from current event to current event without much exploration or analysis.

But it seems that’s what’s on the menu for us all today.

Bon Appetit.

Apologies to new readers that may be a little lost— our archives are plentiful, easy-to-read, and freely available. As always, the newsletter should not be mistaken for any kind of official statement, despite our day job in Kinney County.

It is produced without oversight and any mistakes or errors made are entirely our own.