Abbott Gonna Build a Texas Wall. No Details on Cost or Location

[Willfully Horn 8,204]

I missed the original, which was updated Monday. Abbott apparently is targeting 15 billion in CV-19 funds for a border wall. 
 

Why is it people think Rs have lung fluid on their hands?

 

WASHINGTON — As Gov. Greg Abbott tries to raise cash so the state can pick up building former President Donald Trump’s border wall, Texas Democrats are trying to keep him from tapping into more than $15 billion in COVID relief funding the federal government is sending to Texas.

Every Texas Democrat in Congress signed a letter on Monday urging Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to take steps to block Abbott from using COVID relief funding on border barriers, asking her to issue a formal rule making clear that recovery funding “cannot be used for a border wall, fence, or similar installation.” They also say the Treasury needs to make rules ensuring the money can’t be used to replenish state funding spent on a border barrier.

It’s the latest in an ongoing battle over record numbers of migrants crossing the border and encountering border patrol — a fight in which Abbott seeks to lead the GOP on a national level as he pushes to have the state of Texas finish the border wall and begin arresting migrants. Abbott also moved to revoke state licenses from shelters housing migrant children as he declared an emergency in counties along the border earlier this month.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Democrats-try-to-block-Abbott-from-using-COVID-16279105.php

[DigglerontheHoof 21,516]

Oh fuck, they have a skid steer on the job...shit must be serious. 

Edited June 29, 2021 by DigglerontheHoof
typo

[kevwun 16,269]

I am reminded of General Patton's famous quote about how all he needed to win WWII was an Aggie and a Bobcat skid steer loader.

[Francisco 2.0 32,543]

 

 

[Post Oak 20,551]

6 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

The only people dumber than these politicians are the idiots that vote for them

[Brisketexan 106,618]

24 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

Here's what I don't get.....Noem and her merry band of xenophobes have been bitching about "ZOMG THA BORDER!" for.....years and years.  Yet now it's a crisis that "Joe Biden has created."  But Biden has only been in office for [checks commemorative "Friends" calendar].....six months.

Ladies and gentlemen, this can only mean one thing: Joe Biden has perfected time travel.  He is a formidable leader indeed.

[Guest Lobo]

I think we should use the South Dakota guys as undercover agents to infiltrate the coyote networks.  Their accents are a dead ringer for Northern Mexico.  

[Biff Tannen 46,061]

I hate these people.  Hate them.

[Js1 86,939]

5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Here's what I don't get.....Noem and her merry band of xenophobes have been bitching about "ZOMG THA BORDER!" for.....years and years.  Yet now it's a crisis that "Joe Biden has created."  But Biden has only been in office for [checks commemorative "Friends" calendar].....six months.

Ladies and gentlemen, this can only mean one thing: Joe Biden has perfected time travel.  He is a formidable leader indeed.

It's nothing but performance art to bolster 2024 credentials.  Either Trump wins and the merry band of fuckwits (Abbott, DeSantis, Noem) duke it out for the VP slot or they're going to fight to the death for the nomination/endorsement if Trump declines.

[Brisketexan 106,618]

7 minutes ago, Js1 said:

It's nothing but performance art to bolster 2024 credentials.  Either Trump wins and the merry band of fuckwits (Abbott, DeSantis, Noem) duke it out for the VP slot or they're going to fight to the death for the nomination/endorsement if Trump declines.

Yep.  It's all a performance of "who can blame beaners the most?"  That's it.  That's the most important credential for a "conservative" politician these days: how well can you demonize beaners and blame them for every ill in the country [to distract from our many, many failings]?

It's lazy fascism 101 - demonize a weak outgroup to galvanize the nativist masses behind you.  These guys haven't run a single original play.

[pyrohornIII 4,844]

This is the latest attempt at stirring up a McCarthy type hysteria.   The proverbial mountain out of a mole hill.   

You don't see any numbers associated with this and for good reason.  A country our size should have no issue absorbing the amount of people who are seeking legitimate asylum plus a reasonable number of immigrants every year.

The money they spend on ICE and walls and all these tactics to keep them out could fund a pretty good program for aiding these people in setting up new lives, escaping the hell that is their life now.   

Our immigration policies have become so convoluted and archaic it's ridiculous.  

But of course instead of addressing the problem and proposing methods to make things better, let's sit on our hands and scream bloody murder to a point where everyone is at a fever pitch.   Let's set up confrontation points to make things more pointed, instead of developing a system to process people with grace.  

But no, our republicans are all Karens now.  Dumb, fat screaming bitches threatening to call the police!

[Fudge Nuggets 19,407]

45 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

who can blame beaners the most?"  That's it.

This is bullshit. They hate black people just as much if not more. 

[Brisketexan 106,618]

5 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

This is bullshit. They hate black people just as much if not more. 

Yeah, but they're hindered by the past 50 years of social development (can't say the N-word, and "god doesn't want the races to mix" and whatnot).  They have to villify black people using code words and whatnot.  But beaners?  Well, they're furriners, so they can just trot out the EXACT same xenophobic bullshit we've used for at least 150 years (seriously, read some "letters to the editor" about immigrants back in 1890 or so, and they sound just like the GQP does today, except about Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc.).  Xenophobia against an "outgroup" is such an easy, time-honored play.  And the GQP loves to play the hits.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Brisketexan

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

It's nothing but performance art to bolster 2024 credentials.  Either Trump wins and the merry band of fuckwits (Abbott, DeSantis, Noem) duke it out for the VP slot or they're going to fight to the death for the nomination/endorsement if Trump declines.

58 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Yep.  It's all a performance of "who can blame beaners the most?"  That's it. 

Trump is about to visit Texas - I expect other Republicans who want to catch his attention will send their NG or law enforcement to Texas to get his attention.

 

[Biff Tannen 46,061]

5 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Trump is about to visit Texas - I expect other Republicans who want to catch his attention will send their NG or law enforcement to Texas to get his attention.

 

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

53 minutes ago, pyrohornIII said:

This is the latest attempt at stirring up a McCarthy type hysteria.   The proverbial mountain out of a mole hill.   

You don't see any numbers associated with this and for good reason.  A country our size should have no issue absorbing the amount of people who are seeking legitimate asylum plus a reasonable number of immigrants every year.

11 border counties told Abbott to GTFO and they don't want to be a part of this.

https://www.kxan.com/border-report/governor-removes-11-texas-counties-from-border-disaster-declaration/

Quote

Gov. Greg Abbott has removed 11 Texas counties from his revised Border Crisis Disaster Declaration, the most populous of which have so far refused to issue local disaster declarations due to the recent migrant influx, as requested by the governor.

Late Monday, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that he had amended his May 31 disaster proclamation that had originally included 34 counties. The latest revision includes just 28 counties that “have agreed to partner” with the state on border security efforts, Abbott said on social media. The 28 also includes new counties that weren’t included in the original declaration.

Quote

The leaders of four of the South Texas counties no longer part of the declaration — Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr — have steadfastly refused to sign a local disaster declaration as Abbott has repeatedly requested.

Quote

The change came as all four county judges for Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy and Starr counties held an online virtual meeting Friday and they decided to stand against the governor in solidarity and to refuse to sign local disaster declarations, Border Report has learned.

Quote

“We did come to that consensus that we’re not going to sign off at this time. I’m not going to say that we’re never going to sign off but we still have a lot of questions that have not been answered,” Starr County Judge Eloy Vera told Border Report on Monday afternoon. “All four of us were on the same page as far as that is concerned. We don’t feel we have a disaster.”

All four of us were on the same page as far as that is concerned. We don’t feel we have a disaster.”

Quote

Abbott’s future border security plans — which include building a wall along the Texas-Mexico border and jailing all undocumented migrants who illegally cross — hinges upon local leaders signing off by declaring local states of disaster. So by cutting out the counties that have refused, it appears that Abbott can go forward with his plans, political watchers tell Border Report.

Advocates pressure county leaders to ‘draw the line’ against Gov. Abbott’s border policing plan 

Quote

“My initial reaction is we’re moving toward what we want. The largest most populated counties are not included in that disaster declaration any longer. He’s only included the ones that have declared a disaster that have accepted to work with him, which are the smaller more rural counties,” Danny Diaz, director of organizing for the Hidalgo County-based nonprofit La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), told Border Report.

Quote

“Abbott’s disaster declaration would have dire consequences, not only for human rights abuses, but economically, financially at the local level by putting a burden on local taxpayers for local prisons,” Diaz said.

Fuck the local taxpayers so he can curry favor with Trump.

Quote

Vera said the group of four county judges has decided not to sign local disaster declarations unless crime statistics were to change for the worse and to show a trend that migrants are threatening the safety of local residents. Right now, he says that’s just not the case.

Quote

Starr County is the second-poorest county in the state, Vera said, and it relies on revenue from leasing its jail space to inmates from other counties, as well as the federal government he said.

Between $3 million and $3.5 million each year is generated by leasing out jail beds — which is about 10% of the county’s $30 million annual budget.

Quote

If they were forced to jail hundreds of migrants, then the rural county’s 275-bed facility “would fill up in two days,” Vera said.

In addition, he anticipates another $3 million in medical, housing, food and other inmate costs could be incurred. “That’s money our county doesn’t have,” he said.

Quote

By going against the governor, Vera admitted they are taking a chance that Abbott could cut off additional state funding.

“Starr County, well we’re not that financially secure. We’re very economically deprived.. So when the governor says that if we do not do this we could lose state funding that would also be disastrous for us. Our hope is that groups or agencies that are looking out for the welfare of the migrant people that they keep it in the court until such time as something is decided legally,” Vera said. “We cannot fight the state. We do not have the resources. But there are groups or agencies and nonprofits that can do that.”

Fuck it's embarrassing that Abbot went to UT, Republicans are such fucking bullies to anybody they don't care for, which ultimately shows how scared they are.

 

 

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

So she's sending 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to South Texas in July.  That's like sending some National Guard troops from Austin up to the North Dakota/Canada border in January. Fucking them over job-wise, family-wise, etc. so she can curry favor with Trump.

That's 50 NG troops and their families that won't be too keen on voting (R) in the next election.  But she gives no fucks, because her audience is one man.

[elfenix 34,658]

8 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

So she's sending 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to South Texas in July.  That's like sending some National Guard troops from Austin up to the North Dakota/Canada border in January. Fucking them over job-wise, family-wise, etc. so she can curry favor with Trump.

That's 50 NG troops and their families that won't be too keen on voting (R) in the next election.  But she gives no fucks, because her audience is one man.

but kneeling is disrespectful to the troops

[pyrohornIII 4,844]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

11 border counties told Abbott to GTFO and they don't want to be a part of this.

https://www.kxan.com/border-report/governor-removes-11-texas-counties-from-border-disaster-declaration/

Fuck the local taxpayers so he can curry favor with Trump.

Fuck it's embarrassing that Abbot went to UT, Republicans are such fucking bullies to anybody they don't care for, which ultimately shows how scared they are.

 

 

  Quote

Quote

  Quote

Abbott’s future border security plans — which include building a wall along the Texas-Mexico border and jailing all undocumented migrants who illegally cross — hinges upon local leaders signing off by declaring local states of disaster. So by cutting out the counties that have refused, it appears that Abbott can go forward with his plans, political watchers tell Border Report.

Advocates pressure county leaders to ‘draw the line’ against Gov. Abbott’s border policing plan 

 

I will not be surprised when news of the first lynching drops. 

 

Quote

“My initial reaction is we’re moving toward what we want. The largest most populated counties are not included in that disaster declaration any longer. He’s only included the ones that have declared a disaster that have accepted to work with him, which are the smaller more rural counties,” Danny Diaz, director of organizing for the Hidalgo County-based nonprofit La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), told Border Report.

This is where we are on just about everything in state politics.  Rural V Urban.  Red throws everything at rural, and Blue abandons it and goes all in on urban.  TDP does not have any strategy to bolster support in the rural counties.  And while rurals often are screwed by gerrymandering, they can make a difference in state wide races.  But that is ignored.

[CooterBrown 18,272]

rurals often are screwed by gerrymandering,

Wut.

Gerrymandering is designed to give rural conservative voters a bigger voice than they would have with balanced districts.

[Mdhorn 6,153]

2 hours ago, elfenix said:

but kneeling is disrespectful to the troops

Science, facts and logic are Liberal.  If you could suspend all of them, then you'd understand.  

[Restless Native 315]

54 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

 

Wut.

Gerrymandering is designed to give rural conservative voters a bigger voice than they would have with balanced districts.

 

I'm living proof. I live in South Austin, and I'm in the same Congressional district as the people who live in fucking Leakey.

[elfenix 34,658]

7 minutes ago, Restless Native said:

I'm living proof. I live in South Austin, and I'm in the same Congressional district as the people who live in fucking Leakey.

does that give rural areas a bigger voice or is it just using them to crack some blue areas while most of the attention is focused on burbs?

[Satchel 6,982]

Democrats are suing to keep Abbott from using unspent COVID relief monies on his wall.

[Restless Native 315]

24 minutes ago, elfenix said:

does that give rural areas a bigger voice or is it just using them to crack some blue areas while most of the attention is focused on burbs?

In this case, it feels like both. I mean, should anybody who actually lives in Austin be represented by Chip Roy?

[Mango4 191]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

So she's sending 50 South Dakota National Guard troops to South Texas in July.  That's like sending some National Guard troops from Austin up to the North Dakota/Canada border in January. Fucking them over job-wise, family-wise, etc. so she can curry favor with Trump.

That's 50 NG troops and their families that won't be too keen on voting (R) in the next election.  But she gives no fucks, because her audience is one man.

She doesn't give a shit about South Dakotans

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

1 hour ago, Satchel said:

Democrats are suing to keep Abbott from using unspent COVID relief monies on his wall.

Probably unspent because the Republicans fucked around and felt like it should be spent somewhere else.

[Neonmoon 38,130]

We got Mercs coming now. Seems totally legal 
 

 

[elfenix 34,658]

2 hours ago, Restless Native said:

I'm living proof. I live in South Austin's mom, and I'm in the same Congressional district as the people who live in fucking Leakey.

also, ftfy

[Brisketexan 106,618]

4 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

We got Mercs coming now. Seems totally legal 
 

 

Wait....we literally have someone privately funding the deployment of US troops....on US soil?  WTF?

How in the BLUE FUCK are you okay with this, "conservatives?"

[elfenix 34,658]

playing with this site further pushes through the point that congress needs to be embiggened. 

 

https://districtr.org

[Neonmoon 38,130]

How much do we have left in the wreath fund? Let’s send the national guard somewhere

[Updawg 2,378]

Wait....we literally have someone privately funding the deployment of US troops....on US soil?  WTF?
How in the BLUE FUCK are you okay with this, "conservatives?"

Fucking crazy.

Abbott will probably blow the whole rainy day load on blackwater

[Francisco 2.0 32,543]

59 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Wait....we literally have someone privately funding the deployment of US troops....on US soil?  WTF?

How in the BLUE FUCK are you okay with this, "conservatives?"

 

But George Soros deployed some people of color to riot last summer, so it all evens out.

 

 

[pyrohornIII 4,844]

4 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

 

Wut.

Gerrymandering is designed to give rural conservative voters a bigger voice than they would have with balanced districts.

 

You are right, I didn't say that right.  I meant that the gerrymandering pretty much destroys any chance of rural dems getting a real representative.  Our votes in our districts are fodder for the right wing to use rural to offset urban blue.  Sorry.  

[Zepol87 9,308]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

We got Mercs coming now. Seems totally legal 
 

 

Holy shit

[Continental Op 3,934]

12 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

But George Soros deployed some people of color to riot last summer, so it all evens out.

 

 

Did those busses of ANTIFA supersoldiers that were going to seize all of the high rise apartment buildings in Austin and kill everyone inside ever show up? 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Continental Op

[Guest Lobo]

18 minutes ago, Continental Op said:

Did those busses of ANTIFA supersoldiers that were going to seize all of the high rise apartment buildings in Austin and kill everyone inside ever show up? 

No, but they did knock out their furnaces/water heaters in advance of February.

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Wait....we literally have someone privately funding the deployment of US troops....on US soil?  WTF?

How in the BLUE FUCK are you okay with this, "conservatives?"

I wonder how those NG troops feel about having to take leave from their civilian jobs in South Dakota to go down to fucking South Texas in the summer, because some rich family donated the money.  Because I'm willing to bet many of them didn't enlist to be somebody's private militia.

[Gil Bang 26,176]

22 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Yeah, but they're hindered by the past 50 years of social development (can't say the N-word, and "god doesn't want the races to mix" and whatnot).  They have to villify black people using code words and whatnot.  But beaners?  Well, they're furriners, so they can just trot out the EXACT same xenophobic bullshit we've used for at least 150 years (seriously, read some "letters to the editor" about immigrants back in 1890 or so, and they sound just like the GQP does today, except about Irish, Italians, Chinese, etc.).  Xenophobia against an "outgroup" is such an easy, time-honored play.  And the GQP loves to play the hits.

this got me thinking about the "We'll give some land to the..." scene from Blazing Saddles, and laughing my ass off. 

16 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

We got Mercs coming now. Seems totally legal 
 

 

Seriously, WTF?     So any rich political donor that buddies up to a Governor can get NG troops deployed however they see fit?  The fuck is going on here? 

[Js1 86,939]

Galveston is the first county to commit COVID-19 funds to the wall.

*Galveston County being sued in 5..4..3...

[Guest Lobo]

1 minute ago, Js1 said:

Galveston is the first county to commit COVID-19 funds to the wall.

*Galveston County being sued in 5..4..3...

Maybe they thought the funds were going to a Sea wall.  

 

P.S.  What time's commander dipshit getting to Texas?  And what's he flying in?  

Edited June 30, 2021 by Lobo

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/30/texas-donald-trump-greg-abbott-border-wall/

Quote

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday joined Texas’ top state leaders at the U.S.-Mexico border to slam the Biden administration’s immigration policies during a visit to the “unfinished border wall.”

....

“We have an open, really dangerous border,” Trump said during a news conference at the Department of Public Safety’s Weslaco headquarters. “We better go back fast.”

Quote

“You look at this border, and you [know] what you see? You see an unfinished border,” Abbott said. “This is Biden’s fault because President Biden is not continuing what President Trump began. President Biden needs to start right there and finish building the border wall.”

Quote

“One of the things that he did better than anything else and definitely better than any other president is he stepped up, and he secured our border and kept Texas and Americans safe,” Abbott said.

So wait, as soon as Trump left office, the border security evaporated?

Quote

For his part, Trump revived talking points from his political rallies saying that he had overseen “the best border we’ve ever had in the history of our country” and falsely stating his administration had stopped human trafficking.

Quote

Trump received praise from most of the attendees at the border security briefing, which included law enforcement and former Trump administration immigration officials, as well as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

State Rep. James White, R-Hilister, who announced Wednesday he will challenge Republican incumbent Sid Miller, a Trump ally, for agriculture commissioner also attended the event.

Quote

“There's one place to solve all the problems on the border, and that is on the border,” Abbott said. “That's exactly where the Biden administration needs to devote their resources to get the job done.”

Greg, turn in that UT degree, because you're a fucking embarrassment.  You want to stop illegals coming over, help shore up their countries, go after identity theft (have the IRS and Social Security Administration clean up their databases and prosecute those fucking around) and drop the fucking hammer on American companies hiring them.  If Tyson actually suffered from hiring shitloads of them, they might be a little more careful about who they hire.

Oh wait, too many Texas real estate developers rely on them, so better to throw a ton of money at a wall that won't work.

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

[Beau Vine 55,824]

15 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

drop the fucking hammer on American companies hiring them.

Would pretty much destroy entire industries in this state.

[Beau Vine 55,824]

Lol at Midland and Dewitt (Cuero) counties hopping on the border disaster gravy train.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Beau Vine

[mchookem 16,728]

On 6/29/2021 at 5:13 PM, Brisketexan said:

Wait....we literally have someone privately funding the deployment of US troops....on US soil?  WTF?

How in the BLUE FUCK are you okay with this, "conservatives?"

GRHorn has never heard of this 'National Guard' of which you speak. 

[Js1 86,939]

2 minutes ago, mchookem said:

GRHorn has never heard of this 'National Guard' of which you speak. 

South Dakota? WTF is that???? 

[HenryJames 67,116]

16 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

No Medina County? I has a sad.

[atomheartbevo 90,546]

30 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Would pretty much destroy entire industries in this state.

Which is why it's better to build a "wall" that nobody thinks will work.  And you can contract out the wall to political donors who probably use illegals in their labor pool, so win-win?