We’re a couple of days late on this one but judging by how little reaction we’ve detected so far, it perhaps bears additional stressing.

We want to call your attention to a recent announcement by the Texas Border Prosecution Unit— attempting to alert Texas leadership to a brewing crisis in Border courtrooms.

There’s a lot to it— but for brevity’s sake we’ll summarize it this way— bear in mind, this is our personal interpretation, and it may not quite gel the way the BPU and others are trying to present it. Indeed— they may even say we’re partially wrong. But basically, the argument seems to be that in the rush to wind things down, the State is prematurely shuttering the jail facilities that many smaller counties have been relying upon to house the thousands of prisoners that have been arrested and charged as part of Operation Lone Star.

It’s hard not to blame the state, which has been hemorrhaging money— to our knowledge, the facility in Dilley, Texas— one of a small handful— has been mostly empty lately. But what’s happening is that suspects who’ve bonded out of custody have been getting rearrested after new violations elsewhere and are being referred back to the border counties which are now unable to house them all locally.

This leads to tremendous unanticipated costs centered around prisoner transport to and from scattered locations around the region as Sheriffs try to find housing for them all— placing them in neighboring jails. But—since we’re talking about West Texas, “neighboring jails” can mean hundreds and hundreds of miles of travel.

To us here at the Dispatch, the key phrase is this one: “Without help from the Office of the Governor and legislative leadership, the criminal justice system will continue to be overwhelmed, and bad actors will not face justice.”

What BPU Chair, and Border County District Attorney Tonya Ahlschwede seems to be suggesting is that people who should be locked up will possibly wind up skating. We can imagine the possibility that cases might get tossed out of court, or pushed to a limp-wristed plea deal, for want of a speedy resolution, without continued funding for prosecutions and court-related costs.

On X/Twitter, Kinney County Attorney Brent Smith has been advising questioners that want to help, that the best thing they can do is call their State Representatives and Senators, urging them to continue financially supporting border prosecutions.

He also named Rep. Cole Hefner, who is the chair of the homeland security committee, and Senator Brian Birdwell, who is the chair of the Border Security committee.

Subscribe now

What else is there to say? Things along this particular stretch of the river appear to be quiet. Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe, at a recent meeting of County Commissioners, related an anecdote about a high-speed chase in a neighboring county. He says the suspected smuggler crossed over into Kinney County and made a quick u-turn— back into a neighboring county.

Story goes, once he was arrested, lawmen quizzed him about the u-turn. The suspect said he wanted to avoid getting charges in Kinney County— that he’d heard the penalties here are severe.

The Sheriff was a little shy on details about the incident, making it hard to confirm, and we’re not relating the actual County the chase occurred in, because no one wants to suggest their neighbors are being light-handed by comparison. And yet, proof may be in the pudding. Kinney County’s been relatively quiet for months now, as chases and other activities continue in Val Verde and Maverick Counties, though they both report much reduced numbers as well.

It could also be the case that with military forces on the ground in both Counties, law enforcement is having a much easier time stopping would-be smugglers in their tracks.

For now, the status quo appears to be much as we’ve speculated in our last (months old) edition: The big story still on the horizon right now, may wind up being in various major American cities, well away from the border, which are already facing a myriad of unexpected financial hardships as they attempt to accommodate so many illegal aliens.

In any event— that should do it for now, though we do want to recognize a large number of new subscribers— here via the recommendations of our associates at Current Revolt.

It seems Current Revolt is blowing up lately— snaring many new readers by breaking new angles and aspects to the pending showdown between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, as well as other, smaller beefs and scandals in the Texas Legislature as lawmakers there go through the motions of the Special Session. If you aren’t subscribed to Current Revolt— we highly recommend doing so. You’re only missing out if not.

Share

As always, we stress the fact that despite our day job at Kinney County, no one should mistake this humble newsletter for any kind of an official communication. It remains a separate product, produced independently and without any oversight. We mention this for obvious reasons and to remain in keeping with County policies on social media.
Have a great one— we’ll be back again— especially if rumors about a high-profile visitor coming to Val Verde County soon are true.

Just a quick note, Parker County Commissioner’s Court this morning was reportedly well attended this morning by concerned citizens who had many questions about plans for a roughly 4-acre subdivision called “Muslims United Phase 2.”

We’re told Commissioners appeared to make a politically wise choice to table it for further review. A cynic might say that they’ll simply go ahead and approve it once people have stopped paying attention, and they might well be right. We took a brief look and acknowledged yesterday how Commissioners don’t really have the same kind of latitude and power when it comes to zoning and land use that a City Council does.

But, by tabling the matter, they allow the community time to process what’s going on and decide if it really represents something sinister or not.

That’s pretty much it for the update— Parker County Commissioners meet again in May, which isn’t as far away as it sounds.

Have a great one— we’ll be back again soon.

Confusion and concern could be the rule of the day for some residents in Parker County which sits just West of Fort Worth and Dallas.

News got out on X/twitter last night, that County Commissioners in Parker County would be possibly approving the final plat for a subdivision named “Muslims United Phase 2,” later this morning (4/28).

The proposal, set smack dab in the heart of one of the State’s reddest counties, threatens to turn a routine zoning matter into a controversial cultural flashpoint.

The location is roughly 4 acres in size, and is being developed by something called “Muslims United for Progress, Inc.

The exact location as near as we can tell is somewhere near where Dub Lane intersects with Russell Bend Road.

On the map below, that’s going to be somewhere south of where it says “Willow Creek,” Northwest of Weatherford, and Northeast of Cool.

That fits with the description given in the County’s agenda, which says only that it’s somewhere off of Russell Bend Road.

As near as we can tell, Muslims United for Progress is classified as some sort of a charitable organization, founded in Weatherford, and registered with the State of Texas, back in 1985. It may or may not be affiliated with similarly named organizations elsewhere that suggest they are predicated on establishing a framework for what they call “progressive values” in Islam.

The president of the organization appears to be a man named Samad Abdur-Razzaaq. We’re basing that on what we can find online in various “businesswiki” type websites, so take it with a healthy grain of salt, and if you find conflicting research, consider going with that instead.

Journalist Bud Kennedy, formerly of the Dallas Morning News, now apparently semi-retired posted early on X, appearing to downplay any incipient controversy, saying it’s just a simple subdivision, being brought by a 40-year resident of the area. Presumably, he’s speaking of the aforementioned Samad Abdur-Razzaaq, or another individual associated with Muslims United.

Commissioner Jacob Holt is the Commissioner associated with the proposal. That’s almost certainly nothing sinister; Commissioners are tethered to routine business such as platting when it happens in their precinct.

Four acres doesn’t sound like too terribly much, but part of what’s driving the controversy around this story is the fact that Parker County is widely regarded as perhaps the most conservative County in Texas, certainly if one is considering those with a population greater than 100,000 people. It’s a small parcel, but the questions swirling about the place suggest it may become an outsized cultural controversy.

This all falls in line with another, more well-known controversy over the so-called “Epic City” site, being proposed in Collin County, near Plano, and the town of Josephine, TX.

Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have both said they oppose the idea of a Muslim-only enclave in the case of Epic City. Epic City is planned to be a roughly 400-acre subdivision— bigger than whatever is being discussed in Parker County by an order of magnitude.

One poster, lost in the crowd on X, appears to have some personal knowledge of the matter. They say the land is being configured to put a few more houses up for other members of the family that owns it. Presumably this is the same family behind “Muslims United.” Here’s the most relevant portion of that thread:

Some may want to take some of the assertions in this thread we’re citing with a grain of salt. There’s a few minor typos and errors “offscreen” including referring to a commissioner “Mike Holt,” when they probably meant Jacob Holt. But, reading it— it has something of the ring of truth, doesn’t it? Certainly, the bits about how County Commissioners are sometimes unable to prevent subdivisions from forming if they meet all the requirements falls in line with things we’ve heard in our day job on the subject of County Commissioners and local land use.

In any event, we’ll keep an eye on what happens here and probably post a minor update later Monday evening whenever the dust settles.

Subscribe now

Longtime subscribers have probably already figured us out— the “b” section of the newsletter is where we like to poke our noses into Texas History. Today, it seems incredibly appropriate to talk about the history of Parker County.

It was created in 1855, and was highly spoken of at the time, as apparently Weatherford was growing rapidly, with a Courthouse and many other features already in place by 1858. Writers at the time said it was well-situated with access to good water. There were already mentions of a ‘fine chalybeate spring,” with fine medical properties. That’s probably a reference to the good water found in nearby Mineral Wells, which was world famous at one point.

The area had its share of suffering however, with heavy raiding and combat from the Comanche, who at one point were actually “rolling back” civilization in Texas. By that we mean— their predations were visible in state census information showing lower population and in the creation of abandoned settlements.

Even the Civil War wasn’t enough to prevent raiding— Parker County weathered an incursion as late as 1873.

And, in case you were wondering, the County is named for early Texas legislator Isaac Parker and his clan who feature prominently in the Indian wars that raged in the region. Isaac’s cousins Silas and John Parker built Fort Parker in 1833 in what is now Limestone County, TX, near the town of Groesbeck, South of Dallas.

The family compound was raided by Comanche Indians and Silas’s daughter Cynthia Ann Parker was taken captive. Plains Indian tribes had a something of a Goldilocks approach toward captives. They had to be just right. Too old or too young, they were either killed, or scalped, tortured and then killed.

Cynthia assimilated into the Comanche tribe and married Chief Peta Nocona, and gave birth to Quanah Parker, the last free chief of the Quahada Comanche. She was later recovered by Texas Rangers, after the Battle of Pease River, also sometimes called the Pease River Massacre. She was identified and returned to her Parker family relatives. Famously, she never wanted to return to civilization— and longed for her home with the Comanche for the rest of her days.

Quanah Parker is of considerable note for folks from Kinney County, where the Cavalry-Dispatch is based. The Commander of the Garrison at Fort Clark at the time, Ranald S. Makenzie, also known as Col. Badhand, clashed repeatedly with Parker— trying to put an end to the Comanche predations.

We devoted quite a bit of time to Col. Makenzie and his storied yet ultimately tragic history in a previous edition of the Dispatch, just skip past the now dated Title 42 discussion and analysis to find it or click on this direct link.

It should be noted; however, Quanah Parker’s legacy is more closely tied to the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma than it is actually to Parker County, but his tale and his mother’s are essential parts of the Parker clan’s story here in Texas.

It may be that there is some irony that Parker County, forged in the fires of frontier combat and strife, is waking up this Monday morning with fresh anxieties about possible outsiders and the potential changes they might portend.

Subscribe now

And finally this morning— one more element to the story we’d like to explore. What the heck is up with that little town between Weatherford and Mineral Wells, called “Cool?”

Can you imagine? ‘Where you from boy?’ “I’m from Cool.”

Crazy.

Legend has it, the town got the name from a traveler’s quip about the area’s refreshing breezes— offering a pleasant break from Parker County’s scorching plains and flatlands.

It was settled in the late 1800s and populated by cotton farmers and cattle ranchers. As of 2024, it’s home to about 242 people.

It’s one of a plethora of Texas towns and villages with crazy names. Put it on the list with Cut and Shoot, Dime Box, and Bug Tussle.

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

And that should do it for now. We have just enough time to leisurely polish, find some more photos, and get ‘er published for your Monday morning read.

Hope your weekend was a great one, and that you’re all tooled up to crush the work week! We’ll be back again soon, as always, we should mention that the Cavalry Dispatch is published independently of our day job, fielding public information requests for Kinney County, TX, and is published with zero oversight. It should not be mistaken for any sort of communication on behalf of the County. We make mention of all this to remain in keeping with County polices regarding employees and social media.

Current trends suggesting that the main focus of coverage for any major news organization should remain on the interior of the United States continue. There can be no doubt that cities like San Antonio, Denver, and Boston are looming large, as ICE agents and others continue trying to round-up and deport criminal illegal aliens.

This, plus the ongoing legal battles with activist judges trying to hinder deportations tend to obscure what is actually happening on the border right now.

This is as it should be, but here at the Dispatch we do try and zig while others are zagging. So, this morning we’d like to direct your attention to far west Texas— an area called the Quitman Gap, which sits in the middle of the Big Bend sector.

It’s not to be confused with Quitman, TX, over by Dallas.

In this case, the nearest towns of any size are Sierra Blanca and Van Horn to the East, and off the edge of the map below, El Paso to the Northwest. You can see, there’s a few landmarks sharing the name Quitman.

It’s basically a pass between two sections of the Quitman mountains. In Spanish, they refer also to the Sierra de los Lamentos, which is another nearby range in Chihuahua, Mexico. Apparently rock formations there create an eerie shrieking or moaning sound as the wind passes through them.

It’s probably one of the worst areas to try and cross in. So remote and inhospitable that Border Patrol’s never really had to staff it very heavily. Most traffickers and smugglers like urban areas where they can blend in and have more options on where to cross— areas like the Rio Grande Valley.

In a place like Quitman’s Gap, ICE and DHS can normally just park some cameras and sensors and call it mostly good. However, as of March, the Texas Military has parked some 200 soldiers in the Big Bend area, with plans for another 300 to follow-on, speaking to the concerns as local ranchers detect signs of smuggling traffic.

It should be noted, from January to February, crossings in the Big Bend area tanked some 71-percent, mirroring the effect the Trump election has had all along the border. That still amounts to about 165 encounters for February.

Sierra Blanca sits right on I-10, which is what makes this remote spot work for smugglers. Border Patrol agents manning the checkpoint there say they see about 10,000 vehicles daily.

This all comes as the US military continues shifting materiel to the border. Much is being made of the use of Stryker AFV’s. Normally, the armored fighting vehicles are packed with armed soldiers, an autocannon and machine guns, and sometimes anti-armor missiles.

But, for the border, the Army says they’ll be using them for long range surveillance and information gathering.

This all may remind some border observers of past incidents where the military was deployed to the Rio Grande.

Back in 1997, 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, Jr— a sophomore in high school, was killed while herding his family’s goats near the town of Redford, smack dab in the Big Bend sector.

He was carrying a .22 rifle for wild dogs and other predators. Four Marines from Camp Pendleton in full ghillie camouflage were surveilling the area. The Marines reported trailing the boy, at a distance of about 200 yards.

The Marines reported Hernandez shot at them twice. Later analysis suggested he might’ve heard a noise or just been taking some target practice. Marine Corporal Clemente Banuelos fired once, hitting the 18-year-old under the armpit. He bled out, about 300 yards from home.

Texas Rangers say he probably never saw the Marines. The autopsy suggested he was facing away from them— and his rifle’s angle didn’t match their story.

Nonetheless, State and Federal grand juries cleared the Marines, calling it self-defense. The Marines were pulled from the border quickly— and the Pentagon paid the family a nearly 2-million-dollar settlement.

The Marines were attached to Joint Task Force 6, which was supervising all kinds of black helicopters and other military efforts along the river at the time.

Subscribe now

Now might be a good moment to take a look back in Texas History— it was in March of 1855 that the US Army launched one of its more unfortunate and forgotten about experiments— importing Camels from the Middle East, with an eye toward testing them as possible replacements for draft horses and mules in the American Southwest.

The dromedaries and bactrians were mostly stationed at Camp Verde, in the Hill Country near Bandera, but would eventually see testing and other activity in various spots along what would become Route 66, all the way out to California.

One of the champions of the program was actually Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who pushed for it in the pre-war years, convinced that it was a worthwhile experiment. At the time he was the Secretary of War for the Union. The initial investment was $30,000 Dollars.

By May, a ship was on its way to the Middle East. The USS Supply would return with its cargo of camels by February. They spent a little time in San Antonio, acclimatizing to the region, before setting out for Camp Verde.

Several tests would follow, and it quickly became clear that the camels were superior to mules— carrying more weight and needing less water and fodder.

A hostile test was later arranged, with a California militiaman, named Edward Beale. Beale was to survey a route from Fort Defiance, New Mexico to the Colorado River at the California/Arizona border.

It was 1857. The new Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, informed Beale he had to make room for Camels on his survey team. Beale wasn’t having it— objecting strenuously, but he wound up with no choice in the matter.

By the time Floyd finished relocating his camels from Camp Verde to Fort Defiance, he’d become a believer, writing to the Secretary:

“It gives me great pleasure to report the entire success of the expedition with the camels so far as I have tried it. Laboring under all the disadvantages ….we have arrived here without an accident and although we have used the camels every day with heavy packs, have fewer sore backs and disabled ones by far than would have been the case travelling with pack mules. On starting I packed nearly seven hundred pounds on each camel, which I fear was too heavy a burden for the commencement of so long a journey; they, however, packed it daily until that weight was reduced by our diurnal use of it as forage for our mules.”

—Expedition Leader Edward Beale, in a Report to U.S. War Secretary John B. Floyd

Beale’s love affair with the camels only deepened as they left the Fort and began the actual survey work:

“Sometimes we forget they are with us. Certainly there never was anything so patient or enduring and so little troublesome as this noble animal. They pack their heavy load of corn, of which they never taste a grain; put up with any food offered them without complaint, and are always up with the wagons, and, withal, so perfectly docile and quiet that they are the admiration of the whole camp. ….(A)t this time there is not a man in camp who is not delighted with them. They are better today than when we left Camp Verde with them; especially since our men have learned, by experience, the best mode of packing them.”

—Expedition Leader Edward Beale, in a Report to U.S. War Secretary John B. Floyd

The camels were apparently well-content to eat the brush and prickly cactus they found along the trail. At one point, the expedition went 36 hours, taking a wrong turn into a box canyon with no grass underfoot and no sign of water. The mules were said to be in a panic. But the camels stayed cool, and helped lead the whole group to water.

Eventually they made it to the Colorado river.

“An important part of all of our operations has been acted by the camels. Without the aid of this noble and useful brute, many hardships which we have been spared would have fallen to our lot; and our admiration for them has increased day by day, as some new hardship, endured patiently, more fully developed their entire adaptation and usefulness in the exploration of the wilderness. At times I have thought it impossible they could stand the test to which they have been put, but they seem to have risen equal to every trial and to have come off of every exploration with as much strength as before starting…. I have subjected them to trials which no other animal could possibly have endured; and yet I have arrived here not only without the loss of a camel, but they are admitted by those who saw them in Texas to be in as good a condition as when we left San Antonio…. I believe at this time I may speak for every man in our party, when I say that there is not one of them who would not prefer the most indifferent of our camels to four of our best mules.”

—Expedition Leader Edward Beale, in a Report to U.S. War Secretary John B. Floyd

Despite these glowing reports, the future of the US Camel Corp. was ultimately a star-crossed one. With the Civil War looming, the camels were forgotten about. Confederate troops were detailed to see to the herd at Camp Verde. The camels were used to haul salt and other supplies around San Antonio. The rebel troops apparently hated the job and hated the camels. Some were mistreated, others butchered, and in time the herd was ruined.

Other camels survived further west and were common sights for many years after the war, as they plied the trails of California, New Mexico and Arizona. The US Military sold them off at auction, deciding perhaps wrongly, that the experiment wasn’t worth following up on.

The last known surviving US Army Camel was an 80-year-old named Topsy. Topsy died in Griffith Park, Los Angeles in 1934, though there were reported sightings of other camels in the wild for decades, believed to be descendants of others that had been turned loose to fend for themselves.

The LA County Museum of Natural History has a great write-up about Topsy, here.

It was during this rough period that a young future General Douglas MacArthur spotted one. In 1885, MacArthur was all of five years old, living in Fort Seldon, New Mexico. He wrote about it in his memoirs.

“One day a curious and frightening animal with a blobbish head, long and curving neck, and shambling legs, moseyed around the garrison…. the animal was one of the old army camels.”

The memory of the US Camel Corp remains alive and well at Camp Verde, with restored facilities and historic displays.

Subscribe now

As far as the border goes, however, the Camel Corp. is yet another reminder of the long history of missed opportunities and squandered hard-earned knowledge that one finds when studying the borderlands.

Longtime readers may recall us making the point when talking about the original Texas Rangers and how their hard-won experience in Indian fighting was wasted and squandered.

We can’t help but worry that Texas may too cheaply discount the value of the lessons learned over the last 4 years and withdraw too quickly from its recent role in policing the border in the absence of federal effort. It’s all well and good that ICE and DHS are making lots of noise and are seemingly ready to rock. But we can’t help but feel that the State may find itself once again in similar straits 10 or 20 years in the future.

One hopes that the knowledge and experience that’s been so hard won is retained somehow, institutionally. Realize— Texas military troops have been deployed in significant numbers for roughly 4 years now. Some have even moved to the area and live here full-time, in order to make it easier.

Discounting these sacrifices by simply dropping everything and forgetting about it all would be an ‘ignoble waste,’ much like the whimpering end of the camel experiment.

Subscribe now

And on that note, we’ll call it a morning. We’ll probably be back much sooner than usual— we just saw a headline about fresh trouble on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Longtime readers can probably recall why that should be of interest:

Until then— have a great morning and we’ll see you again soon. As always, no one should mistake this humble little newsletter for any sort of official communication from Kinney County, TX, despite our employment there. It is produced separately and without oversight. We mention this to remain in keeping with County policies re: social media.

A story in the New York Times and the Texas Tribune caught our eye yesterday. Reporter Jolie McCullough is turning a spotlight on Maverick County, after discovering what appear to be some irregularities in the County Jail.

Maverick County is just south of where we live and work in Kinney County, sitting roughly equidistant between the cities of Uvalde and Del Rio. Longtime followers of the border crisis will probably recognize it as home to the City of Eagle Pass which has been the center of Operation Lonestar, with the floating barriers, and the showdown with federal authorities when Governor Greg Abbott ordered them out of a local park.

We’d hate to spoil the whole story for you, but according to McCullough’s reporting there appears to be a rather savage breakdown in justice, where suspects are sitting for months in the local jail without a hearing. In some cases, suspects are ordered to be released and yet remain sitting in jail for more months before finally getting let go.

Officials here openly acknowledge that poor defendants accused of minor crimes are rarely provided lawyers. And people regularly spend months behind bars without charges filed against them, much longer than state law allows. Last year alone, at least a dozen people were held too long uncharged after arrests for minor nonviolent crimes, interviews and records reviewed by The New York Times show.

Some defendants seem to have been forgotten in jail. Two men were released after The Times asked about them, half a year after their sentences had been completed.

“The county is not at the level that it should have been for years,” conceded Maverick County Judge Ramsey English Cantú, who oversees misdemeanor court. He said he had been trying to “revamp” and “rebuild” the local justice system since he was elected in 2022.

“It’s been a challenge for me,” he added. “But at the end of the day it is unjust.”

Under the U.S. Constitution, people facing jail time are entitled to a lawyer — paid for by the government if they cannot afford their own — and a fair and efficient court process. But these protections are tenuous, especially in rural parts of America, studies have shown. In Texas, one of the states that spend the least on indigent defense, The Times found recent examples of people held beyond deadlines without charges or lawyers in six rural counties.

Maverick County stood out. It is in one of the state’s poorest regions, and many defendants cannot afford a lawyer; some spend months in jail because they cannot pay a bail bondsman $500 or less. Yet over the past two decades, state auditors have repeatedly noted the county was failing to adequately provide indigent counsel. In 2023, when more than 240 misdemeanor defendants requested representation, the county judge appointed lawyers in only a handful of cases, records show. Nonetheless, the state has imposed no consequences.

With no one to guide them, defendants enter a disjointed justice system where it can be perplexingly difficult to figure out why someone is in jail, if there even is a reason. Misdemeanor court files are almost always missing key documents. Felony court files are often not available until more than a year after a defendant’s arrest. The jail sometimes reported having no record of people despite recently holding them for months.

Defense lawyers and constitutional law scholars, responding to The Times’s reporting, called the county’s practices “atrocious,” “Kafkaesque” and “not a criminal system at all.”

“The lack of transparency and the lack of public defenders in this jurisdiction has allowed this completely inept system to persist,” said Rachel Kincaid, an associate law professor at Baylor University in Waco and former federal prosecutor. “There’s no pressure on them to do anything differently.”

…

The Free State of Maverick

About half of Maverick County’s residents live in the city of Eagle Pass, which is on the Mexican border, about 150 miles southwest of San Antonio. Most residents’ first language is Spanish, and people who live in the neighboring Mexican city, Piedras Negras, cross often to work, shop or visit relatives.

The county has a history of scandals, including a federal investigation into bribery and contract-rigging a decade ago that sent four of five commissioners to prison. A veteran police officer said locals jokingly call it “the Free State of Maverick” because officials tend to do what they want and deal with the ramifications later.

The region is also at the forefront of America’s crackdown on immigration. Since 2021, Texas police officers have arrested thousands of migrants in Maverick County for trespassing, in an effort to deter crossings and boost deportations. After legal challenges, the state created a special criminal system to expedite the process by quickly charging migrants and assigning them lawyers.

The justice system for local residents shows far less urgency. It took on about 350 cases last year, a vast majority of them misdemeanors or felony drug possession. The police and the Sheriff’s Department often take weeks or months to report an arrest to prosecutors. The prosecutors then take months to decide whether to go to court, for charges as simple as resisting arrest or trespassing. During this time, prosecutors are not told, and typically do not check, whether a defendant is in jail.

Neither law enforcement agency answered questions about the delays. Jaime Iracheta, the county attorney, said misdemeanors in Maverick County go through layers of vetting. Some other jurisdictions file such charges within days, if not hours.

Although those leading the justice system are all Democrats — a relic of the party’s historical strength with Hispanic voters — they are divided into rival factions. Iracheta, whose office prosecutes misdemeanors, endorsed English Cantú in his 2022 run for county judge. Sheriff Tom Schmerber, who has overseen the jail since 2013, is an ally of the judge’s predecessor, David Saucedo.

When Judge English Cantú ran against Saucedo, his second cousin, he called Saucedo a “bully” who gave his “cronies” big salaries “not to do anything.” Saucedo called his opponent “self-serving” and accused him of helping spread an “almost comical” rumor that he was a murderer.

—Reporter Jolie McCullough, The New York Times

Let’s take a second here to digest for a minute and offer up a little more background for our readers. It should be noted that local politics in Maverick County can be quite squirrelly. The idea of candidates possibly spreading rumors about an incumbent being a murderer barely gets to the beginning of it. Indeed, it is hard to keep track of all of the accusations and rumored controversies that swirl about the town, even from the next county over.

Maverick County Attorney Jaime Iracheta mostly comes off well in McCullough’s article, but he has had his share of troubles and near-misses as well, with ex-employees accusing him of improper relationships and bad firings. He’s managed to weather the slings and arrows, and fire a few back of his own along the way, but it is all illustrative of how small and nasty local politics can get along the river.

Iracheta said the Sheriff’s Department was the problem. “We have extreme issues over there, but I can’t control who the people elect,” he said.

The sheriff did not respond to interview requests, but the jail’s case manager, Daniella Ramos, criticized the magistrates who set bail. She said she sends them weekly jail rosters so they can order defendants to be released, but they go “into the abyss.”

Kina Mancha, the county’s longest-tenured magistrate, countered that the jail had sometimes failed to follow orders to let people go. “They’re not doing their job,” she said.

—Reporter Jolie McCullough, The New York Times

The Sheriff in Eagle Pass is a man named Tom Schmerber— as mentioned in the New York Times, he’s viewed as an ally of the former County Judge— the one who said his opponent was calling him some kind of a murderer, if you’re having trouble keeping track.

Schmerber is a former Border Patrolman, but that doesn’t seem to be any sort of factor here.

Texas Sheriffs have a great amount of power, and a certain amount of ability to ignore attempts to change their policies. In practice, County Commissioners have the power of the purse, and the ability to threaten their budgets, but otherwise, they pretty much answer to the voter only. Commissioners risk a messy battle when threatening to cut budgets. Actually doing so can backfire, with popular Sheriffs turning it on them, with accusations of being soft on crime or what-have-you.

Iracheta’s quote about not being able to control who gets elected speaks to this sort of frustration. Iracheta endorsed a different candidate the last time the Sheriff was up for re-election, by the way.

Some may feel no pity for those caught in the teeth of this mess, saying things along the lines of, “They (prisoners) wouldn’t have a problem if they weren’t breaking laws,” and other similar sentiments. But this is short sighted. It is an imperfect world. Luck can be bad and accidents can happen. Law Enforcement can make mistakes. One would hate to see a taxpayer subjected to such a mess through no real fault of their own, only to spend months and months lost in Maverick County’s jail with little recourse.

McCullough’s piece only hints at possible solutions or consequences if the situation persists in Maverick County. But one imagines some form of lawsuit against the County, backed with some deep pockets, and an eventual punitive judgement might go some distance toward reform. So far, it seems that most of those who have been lost track of are so destitute and/or ignorant, that this sort of a lawsuit isn’t really an option as a practical matter. It would be better for Maverick County voters and taxpayers if they sent a clear signal of their wishes on the matter come the next election.

Subscribe now

We should probably say something about the current state of the border crisis and matters around here in Kinney County. It’s all gone quite quiet. So much so, members of the Galveston Crew will soon be rotating back to Galveston, with no replacements.

Longtime readers will recall, the Galveston Crew is the name that’s been attached to those volunteers from the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office and Deputy Constables who have been rotating in and out of the area to assist local law enforcement, while Border Patrol was hamstrung by the Biden Whitehouse.

We’re told the Galveston Crew can and will return if matters reverse themselves, though one thinks that is unlikely to happen at this point.

No friends, the sad fact is, while the border crisis is pretty much over here on the border, it is still early days for those cities and towns in the interior of the Country that are creaking and groaning under the pressure of servicing so many fraudulent asylum seekers and possibly dangerous gang members.

We are being told by activist attorneys and pro-immigration sources that at least some of those ejected from the country so far are not actually members of Tren de Aragua or other dangerous criminal networks. Mistaken identity, they claim, or false accusations based on bad evidence. But, so far, it seems they’re having some difficulty finding an audience in the general public that cares.

Subscribe now

This brings us to our wrap up— which we hinted at in our sub-headline about “The Patriot’s Transportation Choice.”

It’s rather amazing to watch the transformation of the Tesla, from an EV largely viewed as the choice of overpaid, soft city snobs on the West Coast and those who want to be like them, to where it’s now almost becoming something of a way for conservative MAGA Republicans to ‘stick it to the libs’ by going out and buying one.

It’s taken less than a month to accomplish this.

There’s something about the people keying these advanced automobiles, setting them on fire in their paroxysms of impotent fury, and other mischief that is galvanizing Patriots, Conservatives, Elon fans, and enfant terribles alike. The latter seem gripped with notions of using the vehicles as honey traps to pin charges on leftists thanks to the vehicles’ well documented camera systems.

Our advice? If you’re going to do it, go all the way. Get the Cybertruck with a Stars and Stripes wrap. No loony tune with a sharp tool can resist it. Promise.

Or, how about one done up like the General Lee? You can’t go wrong with either, if you want to collect scrapes and scratches, seems like.

Subscribe now

That’ll do it for now. Not quite the triumphant return we’ve been feeling pressured to hold out for. But in the end, that’s a fake idea and a cheap excuse to go dark. Better to just lance the boil and get it over with.

We’ll be back again soon, until then have a great morning and keep those toes tapping.

As always, this humble newsletter is produced independently of our day job working for Kinney County. Any errors, opinions, or other misdeeds are entirely our own. It is produced without oversight, and probably not enough editing.

There’s been such a whirlwind of activity, one might think that the Trump camp is purposely running a sort of blitzkrieg of appointments, moves, and other activities meant to just overwhelm opponents and critics in the press who wind up with little time to react to any one thing, before they must quickly move on to the next thing or risk irrelevancy.

Here at the Dispatch, we have been almost paralyzed in trying to peer at and digest various discrete actions, only to find ourselves eating dust. Homan, Hegseth, Hwats-their-names, and heverything else. Brain aneurysm!

What finally spurred us to write this morning, was spying a blurb on twitter from the Washington Examiner’s Ana Giaritelli, following reports that the Trump camp has considered jettisoning recent changes in government vocabulary that replaced “illegal alien” with words like “migrant.”

EXCLUSIVE — One of the first actions that President-elect Donald Trump could take come Jan. 20, 2025, is rescinding the Biden administration’s ban on the term “illegal alien.”

Advisers to Trump’s transition team on homeland security matters told the Washington Examiner this week that there have already been discussions on doing away with the Biden administration’s politically correct immigration language to talk about illegal immigrants at the border and within the country.

“In this [present] administration, we used ‘undocumented immigrants,’ right?” said a former high-ranking immigration official who now is involved in advising the transition team on policy. “Expect all of that to change.”

A second official involved in advising transition officials confirmed that talks on returning to “illegal alien” were true.

“I don’t see anyone at [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] using any euphemisms for illegal aliens after Jan. 20,” the second official said.

John Fabbricatore, a retired ICE field office director who was named by three sources as the top candidate to lead ICE under Trump, said he had not heard of the talks but supported the notion.

“What is wrong with illegal alien? It connotes no race, religion, or culture,” Fabbricatore wrote in a message Wednesday morning. “It is a purely legal term that was hijacked in an Orwellian attempt to control the messaging about illegal immigration.”

—Reporter Ana Giaritelli, The Washington Examiner

Longtime readers of the Dispatch can probably guess where we stand on the matter. The word-change always felt like some kind of clumsy silliness to us, silliness that took on darker aspects when you considered how language was being policed in places like the UK and might eventually wind up being policed here in the US.

We paused in our writing here to try and find an older dispatch where we addressed our own use of “illegal alien” instead of the nu-speak… but well, we’ve had to give up. We’ve apparently been obstinately consistent in the use of “illegal alien.”

At various times we’ve also used the word ‘migrant.’ We mostly have attempted to do so when attempting to distinguish between the relatively harmless self-surrenders at the ports of entry, and the determined illegals trying to avoid law-enforcement that have plagued Kinney County since the beginning of the crisis. In the end however, it must be stated that technically, all are illegal aliens, according to the classical legal definition.

In the photo above, our caption calls attention to the quality of the water this typical group of cross-country-hiking illegals were consuming. These are tough, tough guys, to be hiking this kind of countryside, drinking water of that kind of dubious quality the whole way.

If you detect notes of admiration in our tone, your sense of hearing is accurate.

Subscribe now

Meanwhile, the always indispensable Todd Bensman has published a blizzard of material on X and elsewhere. We simply can’t bury you in all of his stuff, but one thing did catch our eye:

Steps must be taken to prevent the sort of oppressive gaslighting and censorship that has enabled an almost half-decade of torture and misery all along the border. To say nothing of the secretive midnight flights carrying apparent illegal aliens all over the country, granted some kind of cockamamie official status via tortured and disfigured US statutes by this administration.

Subscribe now

Also, we should probably take a sober look at recent reporting about the proliferation of Tren de Aragua and other criminal gangs across the US as a result of this border crisis and how their presence is bound to complicate mass deportation efforts.

By some estimates, TdA alone is active in anywhere from 16 to 22 different states— possibly operating as an unacknowledged paramilitary force for the Venezuelan Government.

Promise you, run-of-the-mill cartel members are active in all 50 states.

What might happen, if US military units are activated to go into neighborhoods and/or ghettos looking for these people in some kind of a crackdown?

Some fear that TdA and others may be militant enough to violently resist such an effort. That they may already be prepared to carry out some kind of an insurgency within the US.

To us here at the Dispatch, this seems unlikely. But, is that just us being Suzy Sunshine Optimists again?

About a year ago, we imagined what it might be like, if someone were to conduct a half-serious campaign of organized violence inside the US.

We called the essay “Call Me God,” it remains one of our recent favorites.

Subscribe now

And finally this morning, we’ve been thinking a lot about the modern condition. The vague sense of dissatisfaction that seems to loom over the lives of so many Americans today. It is this sense of dissatisfaction, we believe, that drives the appeal of various television shows like The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, among others.

A common thread running through each, is of people entering their middle years, seemingly living high-achieving lives, or not, and being utterly disenchanted with it all.

This a theme that speaks to many. People who’re running the race of life, imagining that they can see the finish line somewhere in the distance, and perhaps thinking that they’ve made the wrong choices, or been deceived somehow, or are just vaguely dissatisfied for reasons they’ve been unable to put into words.

What we’ve all been missing, possibly, is a feeling of agency. Of control over our own lives. Much of that sort of a feeling can be an illusion of course. The feeling of self-control— of autonomy— is necessarily punctured every time one has to fork over money to the government for the privilege of breathing air and living a life.

And yet, there are times where one feels more self-assertive than others. More fulfilled, happier, wiser, and more positively productive.

For some, these occasions come while in the middle of an artistic pursuit. Or in the achievements of their children and spouse. Or in being able to declare a meaningful sovereignty of one. Or two.

For others of a more addiction-prone or self-destructive bent, they come during the conquest of new romantic partners.

At the furthest end of the scale, one can see an entirely negative reflection of these drives and needs in the hopeless addict, who tells himself that the rejection of a more positive way of living, in favor of the next spike in his veins, is his ultimate expression of self-ownership.

This sort of bohemian hobo gutter sensibility, when viewed in the most generous of light, draws comparisons to Diogenes of Sinope, and his semi-legendary encounter with Alexander the Great on the streets of Corinth—the gutters of which being where Diogenes lived at the time.

Thereupon many statesmen and philosophers came to Alexander with their congratulations, and he expected that Diogenes of Sinope also, who was tarrying in Corinth, would do likewise. But since that philosopher took not the slightest notice of Alexander and continued to enjoy his leisure in the suburb Craneion, Alexander went in person to see him, and he found him lying in the sun. Diogenes raised himself up a little when he saw so many people coming towards him and fixed his eyes upon Alexander. And when that monarch addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, "Yes," said Diogenes, "stand a little out of my sun."^[7] It is said that Alexander was so struck by this, and admired so much the haughtiness and grandeur of the man who had nothing but scorn for him, that he said to his followers, who were laughing and jesting about the philosopher as they went away, "But truly, if I were not Alexander, I wish I were Diogenes."^[8]

Other versions of the tale include the men identifying themselves, with Alexander calling himself ‘The Great King,” and Diogenes calling himself “Diogenes the Dog.”

We’ve said it in the past— people deserve the promise and the potential of their own aspirations. Too many are trapped in a cubicle maze of power-point presentations, keeping up with the Joneses, or worse- are too busy struggling to hold together and raise shattered families on their own.

Some of the occasions where meathead philosopher Joe Rogan can be most compelling is when he holds forth on the need for society to create “less losers.”

The definition of “loser” is of course one that can be loosely applied to a wide swath of the current population, as both a pejorative and a simple identifier. But to us, for our purposes, it seems to be a mostly self-applied term. That is to say— someone that feels like a loser, “knows” it. Hates it. Hates themselves.

With that information in hand— one can perhaps more easily follow what Rogan means to be saying: It’s difficult to heal a society, when a significant portion feels like a loser.

Complicating things, it’s not as simple as passing out trophies and telling everyone what winners they are. No. The path out of this sort of hole must be found and trod by the person that is in it. Praise from outside the hole is not enough to support the one down in it. The best anyone can do for the Diogenes in their life is to stand aside and let them make the climb without getting in their way.

Odds are, even the best of us has felt the need to do a little climbing in recent years. Here’s to it. Hope to see everyone doing their version of the Trump dance in the months to come, at the rim of whatever hole they’ve conquered.

On this silly-but-serious note, we’ll call it a day. Hope you’re having a great week with an even better weekend on the horizon. As always, no one should confuse this humble newsletter with any sort of an official communication by Kinney County, TX. It is kept as separate as possible from our day job, fielding public information and press requests in Kinney County. We make this disclaimer for obvious reasons, and to remain in keeping with County policies regarding employees and social media.
It is produced without oversight, and sometimes without enough self-editing, resulting in necessary and sometimes embarrassing corrections. Which is as it should be.

We’ll see you again somewhere on down the road.

By all accounts, Donald Trump has won and will be the next president.

”Midnights” would seem to be the name agents have for the late shift and accompanying muster. Ms. Bradley is such a sponge, it’s little wonder she’s adopted the term.

Many have probably forgotten— but it wasn’t that long ago that we found out agents were committing suicide in record numbers. Was it all attributable to the border crisis? Perhaps not, but one is certain it didn’t help. It all followed closely on the heels of Covid and other troubles that certainly made life harder on Agents who then had to deal with the crushing weight of so many migrants literally killing themselves to get to the United States, and the accompanying gaslighting and other troubles.

As we write this, Kamala Harris has yet to concede matters. But the morning is young.

Also, it seems our associates at Current Revolt were correct in their analysis of the Texas Senate Race between Colin Allred and Ted Cruz. The morning of the election they said Allred was a bigger loser than Beto O’Rourke and wouldn’t even come nearly as close.

Ouch.

Cruz whipped Allred by 9 points and 1-million votes, despite a full court press of Democrat spending that dwarfed Cruz’s warchest, and a candidate that some have called “Disciplined” when speaking of Allred. Democrats have been lusting for Cruz’s scalp, ever since Beto O’Rourke missed it by 2 points some years ago.

Subscribe now

Other races of note—

We mentioned the Galveston County Sheriff’s race recently, and the consequences for Kinney County that it included— we are happy to report that Constable Jimmy Fullen cruised to a comfortable victory over his challenger Democrat Mark Salinas.

The Houston Chronicle and others have hastened to point out that Fullen still faces a hearing over whether or not he can keep his badge.

The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement’s executive director in June recommended that Fullen’s law enforcement license be revoked after uncovering omissions on Fullen's application for the license.

Fullen didn’t report to the commission that he had been arrested multiple times in the 1980s.

The commission next year will make a final decision on whether to revoke his license. If the recommendation is upheld, Fullen would be required to resign his position and Galveston County Commissioners would appoint his replacement.

On its face, Fullen’s victory isn’t a surprise. A Galveston native and longtime Precinct 1 Constable, Fullen outraised and outspent his Democratic challenger, Mark Salinas. Fullen’s campaign received support from deep-pocketed donors, including Galveston-born billionaire Tilman Feritta and high-profile attorney Tony Buzbee.

Fullen will replace retiring Sheriff Henry Trochesset, who has held the position since 2012.

Fullen hosted a jovial victory party at the Fertitta-owned San Luis Resort & Spa on Seawall Boulevard in Galveston.

He declined to comment on his victory to the Chronicle. But Galveston County Precinct 2 Constable Paul Edinburgh praised Fullen in a speech, saying he owed his sense of leadership to the law enforcement veteran.

“Who else would endure the stress, the negative publicity and,” he paused, at which the crowd shouted, “bull****.”

Before Tuesday’s gathered crowd, Fullen acknowledged running a long, grueling and expensive campaign, but said it was worth it because he’d long planned remaking the sheriff’s office.

“We’re going to go after the criminal elements and send them back to Harris County,” he said to applause. “We’re going to kick ass and take names out in the streets.”

—Reporter John Wayne Ferguson, The Houston Chronicle

Keep an eye on that byline there— John Wayne Ferguson is originally from the daily paper in Galveston and is obviously very familiar with whatever’s happening there.

Subscribe now

Also of local note— the State Rep’s race for this area saw Democrat Eddie Morales slip past Republican Robert Garza, by 1800 votes.

Garza was winning the race, as most observers around the state waited for the results from Maverick County.

Maverick County, Eagle Pass, is Morales’ hometown. And by the time the dust settled as those results arrived— Morales finished on top.

Garza is a former Mayor of Del Rio, and grew up in Brackettville, here in Kinney County, where his father was a long-time political force, as well as his older brother.

We would have to say don’t count the man out— he, or one of his sons, daughters, or grand-children are bound to pop up again in regional politics. It’s clearly part of the pedigree.

As for Morales— he’s like a lot of border-area democrats. Rather conservative. Like Henry Cuellar down in Laredo, TX, (who also won) he stands to exercise a whole lot of power as someone that Republicans are bound to court as they seek bipartisan support in various houses and bodies throughout the land.

That’ll mean a lot of favors and markers that they’ll be able to call in down the road, a fact that is surely not lost upon savvy voters in Eagle Pass, or Laredo, and San Antonio, in Cuellar’s case.

Subscribe now

And finally, this morning, as expected, Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez cruised to a comfortable win. Many races were incredibly impacted all over the country by President Trump’s very impressive coat-tails—but it seems this was not one of them— or at least, not to any significant degree.

Martinez dispatched Republican Rogelio “Roger” Hernandez to take his fifth term, hauling in 7,926 votes to Hernandez’s 6,033.

It may not sound like much— but Del Rio’s population is only about 30-thousand people, so that falls in line with the roughly 40-to-50 percent voter turnout we saw throughout most of the state last night.

Subscribe now

All of this is sure to have some kind of impact on Operation Lone Star, though we personally expect the Governor will continue with it in some form or fashion— reorganizing various state agencies to continue operating as a more muscular partner with a Trump DHS and Border Patrol. Or not! We’ll see. Even if it stops tomorrow, prosecutions and other court proceedings are bound to continue for some time to come.

We should also acknowledge the migrant caravans that many are aware of, presently proceeding North from Tapachula, toward the border. It’s possible that they might make it all the way to the border, but we doubt it.

Time is ticking right now on getting this newsletter out, so we’ll have to explore our reasoning for that in another edition— possibly tomorrow or the next day.

We still have to proofread this thing! You may not’ve seen yesterday’s embarrassing correction— where we had our wires crossed, saying “Edwards County” when we meant “Terrell County.”

Yuck. We hate pointing out our own corrections, but obviously that’s something that must be done, especially in these times.

Subscribe now

In any event, have a great morning— and we’ll see you again soon.

As always, this newsletter is an independent work product, and no one should confuse it for an official statement on behalf of our employer, Kinney County, TX.

It is kept divorced as possible from our work for the County, handling public information requests and press queries.

We mention all of this in order to remain in keeping with County policies for employees and social media.

We’ve debated whether or not to publish today, Election Day. Surely no one is in any doubt how the Dispatch is likely to vote, or how we’re likely to recommend other people vote.

After three years of trying to highlight what’s been happening in the face of the near constant gaslighting, it’s been hard to maintain any semblance of impartiality.

On one side of the equation, you have a collection of individuals who seem determined to import a new slave class to the United States— one guaranteed to depress the value of labor in the United States.

This effort has been buttressed and smoke-screened by all manner of faux humanitarian concern, we believe, to conceal the naked greed and sheer effort employed to bring them here, using our own tax dollars to fund the UN and the various NGOs that have turned Panama into a superhighway for illegal immigration and enriched the Mexican cartels by literal billions of dollars.

According to some sources, migrant trafficking income is actually even more attractive to the cartels, since the “product” pays multiple times, unlike narcotics.

And on the other side of the equation, you have another collection of individuals who seem to see all of this clearly, to varying degrees, struggling to say anything at all, without being unfairly blasted by claims of racism or worse.

In the middle you have people of all stripes who may see only a humanitarian crisis. Or rising crime. Or any number of other myriad issues that are associated with this mess. One of the things some of the most liberal analysts of border issues love to point out, is that border issues and immigration issues are frequently used by conservatives to stir up votes— or drum up funding— or that some of the biggest profiters of low paid labor are traditionally big business political donors, who shower money down on both sides of the aisle.

This speaks to the sticky nature of what’s happening— multiple things can be pointed at, all be true— without changing the basic fact that this *is* a slow-motion car crash of a disaster. One that we have all been watching— and the primary fault for it lies with the Biden White House and various international efforts to flood the United States with transplants.

All elections seem to be the “most important ever,” these days— this one, perhaps, might actually live up to the hype.

Let’s take a quick peek at the Secretary of State’s website:

Early Voting numbers are in for Kinney County, 1109 people voted here. The county population is only about 3300, with 2,175 registered voters. That’s more than 50-percent.

Similar percentages have been posted all over the state, with the State’s most populated counties hovering mostly in the middle 40s, with Tarrant County leading that pack at 50-percent.

Jim Hogg County, Frio County, Lamb County, and some others surprised us with percentages in the upper 20s and low 30s at the other end of the list.

Subscribe now

This brings us to something we’ve gone back and forth on— something we would’ve liked more time to find better or more perfect words for— but it’s become a matter of say something now or be pretty much overtaken by events.

The folks at Pro Publica, a non-profit organization that’s been covering the border crisis for a while, dropped a mini documentary this week, that argues the Sheriff’s race in Val Verde County has become a referendum on Immigration.

We think that’s a bit of a stretch, but still plausible.

The documentary itself is well shot, well edited, and boasts what seems like unparalleled access to Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s campaign and family.

It’s a good watch. And it is apparent that the folks at Pro Publica have made some effort to be relatively impartial, even though the piece appears to be heavily weighted in favor of the Joe Frank Martinez campaign.

We’ll be honest readers— our expectations for Pro Publica on the matter of the border crisis and Operation Lone Star are somewhat low when it comes to bias. Like many non-profit news organizations, they employ many individuals, some of whom have made their biases repeatedly clear.

But, again, in this particular documentary, their usual bias is hard to find. If it’s there, it is mostly buried under a lot of simple and now undeniable statements of fact about the crisis.

Indeed, the staff behind the documentary must surely feel proud of their work, and they absolutely should.

We highly doubt they could’ve anticipated the criticism or interpretation that others have relayed to us, that we are about to pass along now.

We recommend watching the whole piece, since some of what we’re about to say will not make a whole lot of sense, without viewing it first.

Okay. One of the central pillars of the piece, is an attempt to answer vague rightward criticism of efforts in Val Verde County, suggesting that the Sheriff and his brother, David— the County Attorney— have been ‘soft’ and perhaps lackluster in their participation in Operation Lone Star. Indeed, in promoting the piece, Editors and headline writers at Pro Publica wring their hands, suggesting that Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez reached out to both parties as the crisis went on, only to get painted as ‘soft on immigration.’

We remember the sequence of events very well. National Democrats pretty much ghosted Val Verde County, as piles and piles and piles of Haitian illegals stacked up underneath the port of entry.

It was the State of Texas, and Governor Greg Abbott that came forward— paired with a courageous decision by then Mayor Bruno Lozano, to shut down the port of entry and force all cross-border traffic to go elsewhere, that actually came to the rescue of Del Rio. Mayor Lozano did so in the face of extreme local, state, and federal pressure to do otherwise. It is no exaggeration to call it a moment of real political courage.

This support from the state is something that the Sheriff goes to some great pains to personally acknowledge in the documentary— even as the piece tries to paint a picture of how these poor little counties out here shouldn’t be trying to intervene— that it’s a federal matter— and the State of Texas shouldn’t either— because once again, it’s a federal matter.

They express this more subtly in the documentary than we do here, relying on statements mostly made by the Val Verde County Attorney, David Martinez, but they are consistent with viewpoints we encountered frequently with reporters from the Texas Tribune, Pro Publica, and various activist attorneys as Operation Lone Star has progressed.

Now, the meat of the criticism being levied in the wake of this documentary— is that Val Verde County has been happy to take all manner of monies from the state— monies taken from other Counties and other taxpayers elsewhere, while shrugging their shoulders about how it’s a federal issue and they can’t do much.

The criticism may be unfair. Voters will have to decide for themselves. It bears noting that Val Verde County hosts *the* processing center for Operation Lone Star arrests in the region— and their participation in that facet of the operation has been invaluable to all of the surrounding Counties—like Kinney— that are getting swamped.

It is also worth noting however, that Val Verde County ranchers in the Western reaches of the County have long complained that they’ve been hung out to dry— saying that they’ve been told that they are not a priority and that the Sheriff’s Office would not be responding to immigrant related calls on their property.

Matters were so dire— the Sheriff in the neighboring county, offered to help cover them during the crisis. Notable, since Terrell County has a pittance of the manpower Val Verde County does. We’ve not personally heard any statement of policy about this from the Val Verde Sheriff’s Office, but we reckon Terrell County would not have made the offer were it not so.

In the end, all of this may not matter. Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez has a lot of history in Del Rio— as the documentary makes clear. He’s a likeable figure. Very relatable. He’s been very good about spreading the word about the crisis on a national and statewide level and speaking honestly about the impact of it on his community.

We’ve personally sat in on one meeting he’s had with out-of-town VIPs who were wanting to hear directly from him, just what was going on down here. The Sheriff was accurate, concise, and didn’t fudge or hedge, even while offering graphic descriptions of what Deputies can encounter when they find dead and dying migrants well past the point of rescue.

We do not know his opponent, Rogelio Hernandez, who has had an uphill battle to fight, given accusations that he’s almost a carpetbagger, without the same kind of ongoing and deep local ties. But folks shouldn’t discount or sleep on the appeal of someone with bigger city experience— modernization and improvements sometimes rely on the input and influence of folks who’ve moved away and then returned, and some voters will be attracted to that.

Ultimately, we suspect the race will end in Sheriff Martinez’s favor. But it may be much closer than it would normally, impacted by folks deciding to vote Republican all the way down the line. And sometimes that’s what you want— a bit of a scare— and notice that some things need to be changed or adjusted for.

Careful readers may wonder, if the folks who’ve approached us with criticisms about this documentary are associated with the Hernandez campaign, or the organization “Project Red Texas.” which supports Candidate Hernandez.

To our knowledge, they are not.

In all honestly, we’ve never heard of “Project Red Texas” prior to this documentary.

After about five minutes of research, they appear to be yet another effort by long-time political operatives to control or channel grass-roots enthusiasm, which is a bit like herding cats— and why many professional political operatives tend to want to just live in the comfortable bubble where they deal only with the big money people, and the grass roots stay placid and glassy eyed, like cattle chewing their cuds.

The group is led by a man named Wayne Hamilton.

One could probably call Hamilton an ‘old-guard’ member of the Texas Republican party, one of the former longest-serving executive directors of the State GOP. A little time spent with google, and one can see he is frequently quoted in all kinds of places, including the New York Times.

Subscribe now

That should do it for right now— we’ll probably be back with a quick blurb once election results are in, though we do hesitate, since everyone and their mother’s mothers will be fighting for your attention, and who are we to elbow into that kind of a scrum?

Deep breaths everyone— no matter what happens— Abraham Lincoln's “perfect words” remain suited for every occasion: “This too, shall pass.”

Have a great morning— we’ll see you again soon.

As always, this newsletter should not be mistaken for any kind of official communication by Kinney County. It is produced separately, and without oversight. Any errors, misdeeds, or other issues are entirely our own.

It’s been relatively quiet for months down here on this section of the Rio Grande. Indeed— it’s been quieter overall, all along the river. What action there was, seemed to be mostly happening West of Val Verde County, between Sanderson and Alpine, which lie between Del Rio and El Paso.

But that has been changing over the course of the last 2-to-3-weeks. Eagle Pass/Maverick County has been seeing large groups of roughly 100 at a time— and some of those groups have had large numbers of unaccompanied children with them.

As Donald Trump seems to be out in front of this presidential race right now— one can’t help but notice reports of more and more migrants slipping away from the ‘migrant containment zone’ that the Mexican Government has set up in its Southern states and cities.

Recall— it was only after some heavy diplomacy involving Anthony Blinken and others making almost secret trips to Mexico to negotiate with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, that Mexico seemed to agree to clamp down and clean things up— possibly because the border crisis was killing Democrats in the polls as the election loomed closer and closer.

Well, since then, Joe Biden has become the lamest of lame duck Presidents, and AMLO has been replaced by Claudia Scheinbaum.

How much longer can any sort of negotiated agreement remain in place? Clearly not much longer, if at all.

Subscribe now

Kinney County Sheriff’s Deputy Hank Dicke had a taste of the limelight recently— appearing in a short piece, posted to X/Twitter by a video-journalist named Cam Higby, who’s visited Kinney County in the past.

In it, Deputy Dicke tells a story about crossing paths with a group of migrants and how it quickly became obvious that the young girl with them was not their child or a relative.

Not sure when exactly this happened— it didn’t happen that night— and probably not that week. Sad fact is, however, area lawmen cross paths with ridiculous fake ‘family groups’ like the Deputy is describing all the time.

There’s been occasions Deputies and Border Patrol agents have found children abandoned and alone— left behind and left to die, because the people sneaking into the US decide they’re too much of a liability.

It looks like Deputy Dicke will appear in longer-form in an upcoming documentary Higby is putting together.

Subscribe now

Many folks are keeping an eye on the Sheriff’s race in Galveston County. If the Democrat, Mark Salinas, wins he says he’s going to take his deputies off of the Southern Border Task Force.

This is of special concern here in Kinney County— long time readers are familiar with the presence of Galveston County Sheriff’s Deputies and Deputy Constables here.

Anna-Catherine Brigida took a closer look at the situation, reporting for the online web-magazine “Houston Landing.”

Since 2021, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office has participated in Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative Operation Lone Star. The county sends its deputies to the border to arrest migrants and smugglers as part of the initiative that has come under fire for human rights abuses. The future of Galveston’s participation in the $11 billion initiative now hangs in the balance before Nov. 5 sheriff elections. 

The county will elect a new sheriff to replace Sheriff Henry Trochesset, of the Republican party, who will retire in January after serving as sheriff since 2013. Running for the Republican Party is Jimmy Fullen, a former Galveston constable whose peace officer license was recommended to be revoked by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement and who has made border security a key campaign promise. His Democratic opponent, Mark Salinas, promises to focus resources locally on Galveston, particularly on youth. 

—Anna Catherine Brigida, Houston Landing

It’s no exaggeration to say that the Galveston Crew of volunteer Sheriff’s Deputies and Deputy Constables have played a big role in the thousands of arrests that have been made here. Just how many? Well, exact numbers escape us right now, but we passed 9,000 trespassing arrests a long time ago. And we kind of stopped keeping a running total on the smuggling arrests when they neared 1,000. The numbers were rolling too quickly, and we have little doubt these numbers could all be substantially higher.

We do recall one Galveston Deputy telling us a tale about pulling over a vehicle in Kinney County that was from the Island. In it were a man and a woman, an assortment of migrants, and an assortment of meth. He says they were *the* connect for all the meth being dealt on the island at the time— and he arrested them here in Kinney County after catching them red-handed.

Now, times being what they are— there’s no doubt that someone else has taken over that route, and by now meth is either flowing again to Galveston, or soon will be.

Kinney County only has about 6 deputies working full time, and about a dozen all total when you include part-timers and those positions enabled by State and Federal grants.

Galveston County seem to have about 3-to-6 additional people here at any one time— We’ve never actually tried to count them. It could well be more.

Ana-Catherine Brigida mentioned some kind of controversy about Constable Fullen’s Law Enforcement credentials:

We’ve spoken with other law enforcement figures about the allegations. Most have stopped just short of calling it much ado about nothing, which surprised us. It all sounds quite serious to us. But, from what we gather, it may be something akin to some old or misfiled paperwork combined with some plain ol’ cutthroat island politics that got raised during the Republican primary in Galveston.

For what it’s worth, we may not be an entirely unbiased commentator here— having been rather effusive in our praise of Fullen on social media in the past. We stand by those words.

He’s been absolutely amazing here in Kinney County.

Subscribe now

And finally, this morning— have you seen this X/twitter post?

It’s from the official US Customs and Border Protection account— put online back on the 17th of October. The video shows a conga line of CBP Agents passing neatly cut little sections of logs to each other, conveying them to a brush pile. They’re all dolled up in tactical t-shirts and US Customs work clothes, complete with floppy hats and eye protection— as the text leads you to believe they’re formally participating in the clean up after Hurricane Milton: “The safety of the American people is our top priority,” is how they end the post.

Absolutely comical.

Even before learning what we’re about to relate— we could tell the entire post is an unbelievably stupid joke, dreamed up in some marketing/publicity drone’s head.

If those agents were truly involved in real disaster recovery work— they wouldn’t have 20 of them at one location, humping neat little logs in a conga-line at one solitary address, posing for the camera. That’s one thing.

And once you realize that— knowing that there are people in North Carolina that remain in absolutely uncertain conditions still—it becomes even more obnoxious and objectionable.

We had a few laughs about the video with some of our sources in homeland security.

One tells us that CBP has doubled down. He sent us a screen shot from an internal website— we’d post it, but we don’t want to slip up somehow if it’s traceable back to him, showing how they’re presenting the event internally.

The copy on the screen reads: “You could call it the Tale of Sherwood’s Forest,” We interrupt to point out— it’s actually supposed to be just Sherwood Forest. Sigh.

“You could call it the Tale of Sherwood’s Forest, but it happened in Valrico, Florida, October, 14th, not in England. CBP’s Disaster Awareness Response Team, or DART, removed a gigantic tree-sized branch that had been felled by Hurricane Milton.”

The text goes on to reveal, the mighty limb had fallen on the property of a CBP Employee— an Agriculture Inspector.

That’s right— not only was it a swell photo op— they got to help one of their own, and not some icky stranger of a taxpayer. Isn’t that swell?

Just to underline matters, our source makes sure we know— that they basically rousted a bunch of federal employees, in order to save one of their own from having to hire a tree-cutter, and used it as a photo op, masquerading as some kind of formal Hurricane Milton response on public-facing social media.

You have to laugh. So clumsy. So stupid. Tree-gate indeed. If only such simple stupidity could be blamed for the whole of the border crisis. Or the ongoing failure to provide meaningful help to devastated families in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Subscribe now

That should do it for now.

We didn’t mean to leave the newsletter lying fallow for quite as long as we have. But we don’t mind admitting that it was very difficult to sit down in front of this blank screen. Every time we did, we couldn’t help but dwell on our mother’s passing— transporting ourselves back to her hospital bedside, where we published our last two editions months ago. It felt almost as though we might be prolonging our grief by attempting to write.

It now feels as though the grief might never actually fade, and that “getting over it,” will actually have to be a matter of learning how to carry on, despite what feels like the near constant presence of her loss in our thoughts.

Since we last published, we’ve picked up quite a few new subscribers, who seem to have found their way here via Substack recommendations from Dave Bondy, and Current Revolt. Welcome to you all, thanks for taking the time to read these words. And thank you Dave and Tony for keeping the Cavalry-Dispatch in your recommendations.

As always, we should mention our day job— handling press inquiries and public information requests for Kinney County.

The founding of the newsletter predates our employment with the County, and we maintain it out of a sense of obligation to our readers, and because it’s fun, though the idea of a PIO acting like a reporter would’ve been quite offensive to a younger version of ourselves.

This humble newsletter should not be mistaken for any kind of official communications on behalf of the County— indeed, it is kept entirely separate and is published without any sort of oversight.

In other words, sometimes it’s a little raw and wriggling ‘round here.

Have a great morning and we’ll see you again soon.

We are heavy hearted and impossibly sodden-eyed as we write this. The news is not good. And it is now obvious to us that the odds were always against it. The doctors and the nurses and the paramedics have all done their best. But at some point, one realizes they just couldn’t crush our hearts while we hoped and prayed for a miracle.

Our mother has struggled her last.

She died Wednesday afternoon, in the company of her youngest son, after tear-filled visits from every member of the family able to be present.

Seeing her reaction as our father entered the room wasn’t worth the terrible price of admission, but it was beautiful. Incredibly beautiful. One could never imagine the eloquence possible in someone so paralyzed. And yet, we witnessed such a thing.

Such a thing.

Somehow, for an instant, it was as if so much of the weight pounding down upon her was lifted. For an instant, she became golden and beautiful. As if she could somehow smile and shine again despite the stroke. Torn, we stepped away to give them privacy. Almost as quickly, we felt a greedy urge to come closer again and eavesdrop. A horrible, desperate and fascinated curiosity. An interior demand to know how these people we’ve looked up to and admired throughout a child’s years and a child’s understandings could possibly face this moment. This horrible departure.

We heard some of his words. And they were good. They belong in a script. And if anyone thinks to doubt what we heard, well, that’s fine.

“Sport,” as he sometimes called her, “We’ve both looked a whole lot better.”

She seemed to somehow smile even wider, even though we couldn’t see her eyes, and her mouth was covered by an oxygen mask, we could see her hand lift to try and comfort him— stroking his hand and arm, and at one point before our vision blurred— we swear, she was reaching for his face.

It was if he were the one in a hospital bed in need of comfort.

Couldn’t stay any closer. The moment burned. Our eyes. Our ears. Our emotions. And our sense of right and wrong— of propriety which governs eavesdropping on private moments reasserted itself. We moved far away again, back to the nurse’s station.

Seeing the visible change in her manner and posture as he entered her room and spoke those words and the others we have denied ourselves the knowledge of seemed almost priceless. But, in truth, the price is known, and it feels so terrible.

Subscribe now

It is a struggle just to write what we have so far, knowing that it may not be of interest to many of our subscribers who simply want what is advertised on the label: “Routine Posts on the Reality of the Southern Border Crisis.”

Well, here you go: Nothing makes any sense. And it hasn’t for a while. The lies about why so many people are trying to cross the border and the lies about why nothing can be done about it have been stacked so high, the filth of their stink threatens to choke us all. And it well might, if the crisis itself doesn’t do us in somehow first.

We do not speak of some imaginary scent that the activists seem to assume opponents of this crisis believe is carried by migrants. No. We speak of the cupidity, the greed, and the naked evil on display by those enabling this crisis. Some are in the White House right now, we think. We also think some are in the halls of business and might frequently donate to blue causes, when they aren’t donating to red causes.

Some readers will surely find our words hyperbolic.

But we have been consistent these last three years of publication in expressing our feelings of despair over how cruelly these migrants are being used and deceived. How they represent an attempt at importing a new slave class. We have been consistent in distinguishing between relatively harmless seeming migrants and the criminal traffickers that are actually those currently overwhelming Kinney County.

At this point, some readers may wish for some kind of sources and links.

Sources exist.

They’re right here in our archives. And also, all over the internet. It is no accident that the Cavalry - Dispatch for much of its existence has made a point of linking to reporting by the Texas Tribune, Houston Chronicle, and others— even the Texas Observer and NPR on occasion as well as FOX News and the Center Square.

If our arguments over these years can be buttressed by even the most left-leaning of sources— and many have— then even the most optimistic of journalistic “takes” on the border crisis must paint a troubled mosaic and so it is.

So, ask for sources. And be returned the most sullen deafness, as one asks and asks for the impossible return of a mother, an educator, and beloved spouse. As selfishly concerned as we are with our own misery and grief, we must also worry now for the sake of our 84-year-old father.

He will miss her terribly. So will we all.

Readers may recall from our last dispatch, our tale of our mother’s horrible stroke and subsequent brain bleed and swelling. And, while one cannot know all of fate’s paths and possibilities and the intersections of choice and circumstance— it is a fact that every ambulance in the County was out in the Countryside trying to assist illegal aliens, while Mom was on the floor waiting for transport from the next county over.

It is a fact.

It is also a fact that she may not have survived even if an ambulance had been next door waiting, in a feat of some kind of prophecy or prediction. But surely any reasonable person can see that this is a bad situation. And something has to change. How long before someone somewhere suffers a disaster that truly *is* directly attributable to this crisis?

The fact is we already have. Many times over.

The most recent and most visible of course was named Laken Riley— the Georgia University student who was murdered while jogging by a suspect some say was affiliated somehow with the international criminal gang Tren de Aragua. This was many miles from the Border, like so many other cases.

By now, anyone reading this newsletter surely recognizes the name and some of the details. And it is a fact that there have already been many others. Many Americans shot, stabbed, raped, murdered, beaten and robbed by criminal aliens left to roam in the United States, judged somehow as ‘nonthreatening’ by the most ridiculous of new procedures and guidelines imposed on the US Border Patrol and ICE by the White House and others.

We say it again: The lies about why so many people are trying to cross the border and the lies about why nothing can be done about it have been stacked so high, the filth of their stink threatens to choke us all.

Subscribe now

In 1884, Teddy Roosevelt famously wrote in his daily journal, “the light has gone out of my life.” The words appeared beneath a giant and bold black X. The X marked the date he lost both his mother to Typhoid and his wife to undiagnosed Bright’s Disease.

Bright’s Disease is basically a condition that leads to kidney failure. By the time Roosevelt’s beloved wife passed, she could barely recognize him.

He was in his 20s. Suddenly a new parent and a single father.

Roosevelt was away when the tragedy began to coil itself ‘round his home and his life. He rushed home at the first word of illness. He was met at the door to the family home by a younger brother named Elliott, who told him “There is a curse on this house.”

Roosevelt proceeded up the stairs in time to watch his mother expire, followed by his wife hours later.

He never spoke of his wife again. He even left her out of his autobiography. The pain was apparently too great to casually face again.

The aftermath of all of this is what led to his westward journey— losing himself in the American West where he earned his reputation as a hunter and outdoorsman, before eventually finding his way back into American politics and territory that may be more familiar to readers.

The Presidency. Conservation. The Rough Riders and the Spanish - American War, etc.

We have been fascinated by Teddy Roosevelt for many years, thanks to tales about him and others told by our own now-departed mother.

Remember Elliott Roosevelt? He once traveled to Texas on a hunting trip. His party lost their horses to Comanches. They had to walk all the way back to civilization and as you might imagine, nearly died.

Subscribe now

Despite our grief, it must be said that the light is not gone from our lives, though it is dimmed. There remain many hopes and many opportunities and dreams for the future.

We have some soul-searching to do about the future of the newsletter. Our original mission— trying to put a message into a bottle about how the crisis was real, despite attempts in national and some statewide press to paint it as fiction seems well and done. Accomplished by circumstances and many others all toiling away elsewhere, in parallel or not.

What form this new chapter in the newsletter’s life will take, we cannot predict, though more than likely it will remain border and politics focused in some fashion or another, once the grieving will allow.

For now, we will be busy conferencing with family members as we help plan a funeral and all of what else follows.

Thank you for reading. We’ll be back again, though we don’t know when.

We’ve been silent for weeks. Many reasons, though sloth as always played a part. In the time since we last published, however, there’s been no shortage of solid coverage in the area, and a feeling on our part that we had little to add to the discussion, other than commentary that amounted to “Yeah! What that guy said!” “Yaaay Red Team!”

Or worse, something we’ve become a little more sensitive to— writing that can be described as navel-gazing in a “dear diary style.”

Since our last newsletter, we’ve had presidents and ex-presidents visit the border and do their thing—one flirting with the Governor— godspeed, you lovebirds, if it’s real. Another flirting with… the notion of seeming like he actually cares, when his actions until recently more than indicate where his cares truly lie— somewhere foreign to the rest of us, it surely seems, if one ignores the near universal appeal of filthy lucre to our baser selves.

It’s all become so tiresome. Even as relatively harmless-seeming asylum seekers have dwindled to much-reduced numbers in Eagle Pass, human smugglers and the illegal aliens they traffic continue to strain public safety and emergency medical services in Kinney County and the surrounding region.

We write this on Saturday morning, after a Thursday and Friday we wouldn’t wish upon our worst enemies.

We assume most of our readers have already seen coverage online of the bloody and chaotic toll tallied in a series of Law Enforcement pursuits and incidents in Kinney County at the end of the week.

The readers we speak of are probably even better informed on just what happened than we are.

We have been busy. And unaware of many of the details.

You see, while helicopters and ambulances were racing to the scene of one chase’s aftermath, we ourselves were discovering our elderly mother collapsed on the floor of the family home. Unconscious. In a small puddle of what seemed to be bloody vomit.

We have buried the lead once more.

It is hard to describe the feeling, calling for an ambulance, hearing emergency sirens right outside the door and knowing, they are not coming for you, or your mother. Not yet.

Standing there impotently, we haven’t realized yet that our mother has suffered a massive stroke.

It is impossible to know exactly how things might have gone in the absence of a multiple-casualty pursuit of human smugglers at the same time as our mother’s medical emergency. We live out in the sticks. Paramedics and helicopters might not’ve been able to have gotten her to St. Luke’s hospital in San Antonio all that much more quickly.

One must believe this. The alternative is a terrible and ultimately self-destructive rage.

One must believe that there is…

Nevermind.

Mom is in ICU. She’s strong and a relatively healthy girl for her 79 years. But the stroke is massive. And, after the successful removal of the clot, she’s suffered a severe brain bleed and swelling. Further damage to her brain. Damage. To her brain.

Prior to the bleed, we seemed to be communicating. One squeeze from her left hand for yes. Two for no. That seemed to stop with the bleed. Opening her eyes is progress.

We are reading to her. Sometimes we try to sing old songs she knows. It’s hard to sing while under this weight. The gravity of the future squats upon our chests like a demon.

She doesn’t know it, but we’ve stolen and modified a line from a better writer, telling her that she has the simplest, but most important job right now. She just has to lie there, keep breathing, and try to imagine herself healing with every good deep breath. She squeezed our hand, once, upon hearing that.

Encouraging. But there’s still a long road to go.

Someone suggested reading her some scripture. It must be said, she is as we have been most of our adult lives— not all that religious.

But there are no atheists in foxholes, they say. And last night, there was no atheist in her room. We told the suggester that we’d do it. They asked what we planned to read.

Suddenly, we are in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Trying not to embarrass ourselves as our thoughts race— what the heck ARE we going to read? The theme song is playing in our thoughts— any minute now, actor and comedian Larry David is going to step out from behind a curtain, trip on a cord, and unplug Mom’s monitoring devices.

A small voice in our head leaps to the rescue, remembering a lyric from an old Dwight Yoakum song. “The Book of Luke!” Thanks brain.

“just say the word, and my servant will be healed” (7:7).

The caller, the suggester, says, “Oh? Why the Book of Luke?”

Oh jeeze. Can’t say it out loud. How do you explain to this person what’s just happened here?

“Just something I remembered,” one says, trying to be casual and cool, and not some filthy heathen.

“Oh. Well, Luke is the Patron Saint of Doctors and Healers.”

Life has many coincidences. One hopes doubters will forgive us for hoping that little voice in our head just then actually was a message from the Lord. Mom needs all the help she can get.

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading. Thanks for subscribing. Thanks for putting up with our absences and any writing that has a whiff of “dear diary” to it.

Ordinarily, Mom and Dad are so private, we would not have breathed a word of such events. But her tale— our tale— of the potential uncertainty of medical services in the face of this crisis is one that is happening regularly to many people. Uncertainty is an awful torture.

God bless the healers. Everyone involved along the way so far has been great— even in the face of giant Italians who are terrified that the next alarm might be ringing in their mother’s ICU.

We’ll be back when we’re back. We hope this personal story will have a relatively happy ending.

Dear Diary….

A lot of curiosities in front of us this week. Some local, some not. Let’s start with the biggest thing— the apparent decline in foot traffic in the Eagle Pass area.

Many are probably assuming that it is due to the efforts of DPS and Texas Military Forces and the shutdown of Shelby Park. That’s not the worst take ever, but if one is paying attention, you’re also aware of a huge increase in traffic in Arizona and California right now as the Mexican Government clamps down hard on Texas-bound migrants.

While it is possible that they’re trying to avoid issues on the Texas Border for their own reasons, we find recent analysis by reporter and immigration expert Todd Bensman to be very persuasive. Bensman is highlighting the recent visits to Mexico by White House officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and how the White House seems to have made some kind of secret deal with Mexico. No one knows how much the White House is paying Mexico for this and no one is talking. It’s worth noting, Blinken would seem to already have his hands full with the ongoing meltdowns in the Middle East and the Red Sea— yet the White House apparently views the need to quiet the border down as important enough to send him to Mexico too.

Weird.

The officials returned to Washington reporting fuzzy platitudes and no details about whatever deal they struck with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

But while the US press has been silent, Mexican media is brimming with reports of what happened afterward.

Mexico suddenly started doing some serious anti-immigration work, the kind necessary to cut down on the shocking border images that front-running Donald Trump could use to help win this year’s election.

Among the news:

•  Mexican law enforcement officials are rounding up immigrants in the country’s north and shipping them by bus and airplane to southern cities like Tapachula in Chiapas State and Villahermosa in Tabasco State. They are all expected to go home or stay put alongside those continuing to enter from Guatemala. They’ll be held back to wait for a molasses-slow bureaucracy to approve individual travel papers.

In a story headlined “Truncated American Dream: Learn about Miguel’s Story,” the Tabasco Herald described how Mexican immigration agents rounded up Guatemalan Don Miguel and his six children from a long-standing migrant camp in Matamoros on December 31.

They shipped him to Villahermosa, where he has requested a ride back to Guatemala.

• To eliminate another obvious draw, Mexican authorities have emptied and then bulldozed at least one longstanding migrant camp, the sprawling one in Matamoros across the Rio Grande from Brownsville and dug deep anti-pedestrian trenches to deny further easy access to popular crossings there. It was done “under U.S. pressure,” one Mexican newspaper said.

•  Perhaps one of Mexico’s most impactful slow-down measures is that, finally, it is doing something about “La Bestia,” the system of cargo trains that have super-powered the Biden border crisis for three years running by transporting hundreds of thousands of migrants from deep southern Mexico to its northern border cities.

Mexican media shows that Mexico’s military is blockading railyards all over the country and rousting immigrants already on the trains.

—Reporter Todd Bensman, in the New York Post

From there, Bensman takes a look at what the White House might be paying Mexico— and some of the ways Mexico’s President has appeared to backstab the White House over the course of the Border Crisis.

Subscribe now

A real weird one catching our eye, as Monday the Justice Department charged an Iranian and two Canadians with plotting the murder-for-hire of two former Iranians now living in Maryland.

One of the plotters is described as a ‘fully-patched’ member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang.

The Department of Justice announced the indictment against 49-year-old Naji Sharifi Zindashti of Iran, 43-year-old Damion Patrick John Ryan of Canada, and 29-year-old Adam Richard Pearson, also of Canada, who allegedly conspired with each other between December 2020 and March 2021 to kill two Maryland residents who previously fled from Iran.

The men allegedly used the encrypted messaging service "SkyECC" to hire individuals to travel to the U.S., carry out hits, discuss identities and locations of potential victims, plan logistics and mechanics of how to carry out the murders and to negotiate payments for completing the job in Maryland.

"Today’s charges show a pattern of Iranian groups trying to murder U.S. residents on U.S. soil," Assistant Director Suzanne Turner of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said. "Mr. Zindashti and his accomplices’ alleged plot is reprehensible, and the FBI will not tolerate such acts against U.S. residents, and we will continue to pursue these individuals until they are brought to the U.S. to face justice."

—Greg Wehner, FOX News

It may sound like an odd pairing—some shadowy figure, likely affiliated with a foreign government, working with a Hell’s Angel to kill dissidents overseas— but it’s apparently fairly common.

Intelligence analysts can point to decades past when Communist Anarchists used to work with Palestinian militants, and eco-terrorists, working with Muslim bombers in Europe.

Subscribe now

Time now for a correction, of sorts. Readers may recall we actually used all of the best weasel words to avoid saying that a strange and recent encounter in Arizona definitely was with a suspected Azerbaijani terrorist named Movsum Samadov.

We used words and phrases like ‘others say,’ and ‘appears to be.’ We haven’t gone back to review the newsletter, but we also may’ve said something like “sure looks like him!’ referencing some of the photographs others had produced at the time.

Well, weasel words or not, it’s worth a correction, and definitely worth an update.

Apparently Samadov has been located in Azerbaijan where he was recently released from prison. And, after more than a decade in lock-up, he’s much visibly older and heavier. Also— the man apparently has a large-ish mole on one side of his face that is missing on the original border crosser mistaken for a younger version of Samadov.

The organization Politifact has a fairly smug breakdown and review of things on their website here, though we first saw corrections somewhere on X/Twitter.

Here’s a look at another photo montage, comparing the unidentified migrant with much younger photos of Samadov.

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

And finally this morning, we should probably say something about this trucker convoy that’s supposed to be passing though on the way to Quemado.

Here’s some copy we’ve written that’ll be appearing in the Kinney County Post, Thursday:

Anti-open border activists hope to put a spotlight on the town of Quemado this week, leading a convoy of truckers and others to the "Cornerstone Children's Ranch" in Quemado.

Quemado is a small community in Maverick County, roughly equidistant to Eagle Pass, Del Rio, and Brackettville.

Organizers raised more than $100,000 dollars via Give Send Go, after appearing on the Tucker Carlson show on X, formerly known as twitter.

They're calling it the "Take Our Border Back," convoy, and it's attracting criticism mostly from the left, but also from some concerned observers on the right.  Elements of the convoy are also going to Yuma, AZ and San Ysidro, CA.

Critics of the plans point out that the convoys pose the potential for a significant distraction for local law enforcement and will put additional pressure on already challenging rural roads, potentially creating situations that will make it even easier for Cartel smugglers to move drugs or illegal aliens.

One of the organizers announced online that the Convoy isn't meant as any kind of a blockade. “We don’t want to cause any problems for law enforcement or the National Guard… we don’t want to put anyone in danger,” they said, in a video statement.

The convoy is expected to arrive in Quemado on February 2nd.  

Reports online suggest the convoy's numbers and membership has hit a snag, with fears of some kind of federal mischief possibly targeting participants.

—An excerpt of copy written for publication in the Kinney County Post

We wrote that on Monday night. We don’t mind confessing that a more thorough and critical examination of the convoy can be found at the Center Square.

You can also find other publications like Wired-dot-com that seem to be dunking on the convoy and its organizers, already pronouncing it “a complete mess.”

We should note however, some basic glaring errors in Wired’s coverage—saying the Convoy is heading to “Quemado in Catron County.” No such place. There is a Catron County, but it’s in New Mexico. Quemado is in Maverick County— and it is on the border— contrary to Wired’s “complete mess” of a story asserting that it is not.

On Monday morning, the organizers of the Take Our Border Back convoy kicked off their road trip to the Texas–Mexico border in Virginia Beach. Though they claimed that up to 40,000 trucks would be joining, only 20 vehicles made up the convoy as it rolled into Jacksonville, Florida, 14 hours later. The promised support had not materialized—not a single truck showed up, tires were reportedly slashed, participants got lost, and paranoia struck the group. In short, the convoy was a complete mess.

The convoy was organized last week as a show of support for Texas governor Greg Abbott and his decision to defy the federal government and President Joe Biden about the installation of razor wire along the Texas–Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas. While at least one organizer initially said they planned to hunt down migrants along the border in collaboration with sympathetic members of law enforcement, the group appeared to walk back that assertion on Monday, issuing a statement that the convoy would not be heading to the border at all but instead going to Quemado, a tiny town in Catron County, Texas. The group’s website, however, still lists the route of the convoy as “Virginia Beach, VA, to Eagle Pass,” and members of the planning group on Telegram still say they are going to the Texas border.

The organizers also repeatedly stated that the event was peaceful, though online chats in a related Telegram group show members discussing “exterminating” migrants. A known white nationalist who was kicked out of the People’s Convoy in 2022, Ryan Sanchez, is among those most active in the group. Sanchez was previously a Marine Corp reservist who says he was kicked out after he was reported to have been demonstrating alongside the Rise Above Movement, an alt-right street-fighting group that took part in the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which led to the death of one counter protester.

—Reporter David Gilbert, WIRED Magazine

So there you have it folks— at least one possible weirdo is apparently maybe involved in the convoy, on the basis of one silly Telegram message group of navel gazers that this reporter says is somehow affiliated with the Convoy.

Is it? Who knows.

It may be that this Ryan Sanchez has nothing to do with it and is merely posing. But, let’s assume that there are a couple crazies traveling with this convoy. Odds are much higher that there will also be plenty of normal, decent folks showing up who are just plain frustrated with this situation and desperate to show some kind of meaningful support for Texas.

We personally feel they should have stayed home— that efforts would have been better spent lobbying US Senators not to pass this awful Senate border bill we keep hearing rumors about. But we can certainly empathize with folks feeling a need to do something that feels ‘real.’

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

On that note, we’ll call it square.

We considered doing a thing here at the end with the 1970’s film “Convoy” and the attendant theme song… but boy… just too hackneyed. It’s beyond our creativity at this early an hour to make it work. Seriously. The song is awful.

Just awful.

Don’t click the link. Whatever you do, don’t. It’s terrible.

Don’t be fooled by the album cover either. That Kris Kristofferson lookin’ dude? Ain’t. As in ain’t Kris Kristofferson.

As always, no one should mistake this humble newsletter for any kind of an official statement on behalf of Kinney County, despite our employment there.

It is produced without oversight and any errors, mistakes, or other misdeeds are entirely our own.

Have a great morning— we’ll be back soon enough, until then, keep it high and tight.

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.

Subscribe now

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.

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

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.

We’re running late this morning— so we fear today’s newsletter may not meet our normal attempts at thoughtfulness. But, after missing a self-imposed deadline yesterday, we’re up against the deadline of timeliness.

Quickly: A lot of folks are freaking out about the Supreme Court’s decision allowing Border Patrol to cut Texas’ concertina wire. This isn’t good for border security, but many are forgetting that while it is *a decision* it is not *the decision.*

There’s a bunch of legalese in all of the major articles explaining it, but it basically amounts to the Supreme Court putting a temporary order in place. There surely must certainly be an army of attorneys who want to correct us on that because these words have specific legal meanings and so forth— but for our purposes right now, they are basically the same.

Now the case goes back to the appeals court and will surely go wind up back in front of the Supreme Court for a full hearing.

Basically, the decision is something like a judge issuing a temporary restraining order in a case of possible family violence.

One must respect the chess play that is apparent— because the decision doesn’t actually affect the State’s moves at this point. We suspect when they wargamed all of this, the Governor’s Office must’ve expected this possibility. By seizing Shelby Park, they mostly prevent Border Patrol from cutting the most visible wire. The ‘miles of wire’ the state has strung elsewhere does not matter. It amounts to a pittance and is largely symbolic too. It is also not so visible to video cameras documenting the crisis, unlike the wire at Shelby Park.

Right now, it seems that Border Patrol will be able to launch boats as needed from Shelby Park and may well try to cut the wire there from the water. Texas has a lot of wire. And a lot of National Guardsmen that can use the practice in stringing or repairing more. Border Patrol will get very tired of having to launch boats every time more wire gets strung or repaired.

So, while the Supreme Court seems to have made an anti-Texas choice here, in the grand scheme of things, it will probably not matter.

Subscribe now

A lot of folks online have been very concerned about a piece of video showing a man with what sounds like an Iraqi or Iranian accent, seemingly making threats against the United States— wrapping it all up by saying “Soon, you will know who I am.”

The whole thing is bizarre.

A couple of takeaways from this, which we’ll get to in a moment. The individual in question is the one in the back wearing glasses and a grey t-shirt under a light jacket.

As usual with Twitter/X links on Substack, you’ll have to click the text link up above, and not the image.

There are apparently a lot of detectives online. They seem to have already identified the joker as a formerly imprisoned Azerbaijani politician and terrorist.

If you’re skeptical like us, you may be wondering if some rando named “1mZerOCool” on Twitter/X is a valid source or not.

Who knows. But you can find photos of Movsum Samadov online from mainstream sources. Some of them are the ones in this tweet. And it does look like the same guy, doesn’t it?

Some will also say, “There’s no way— why would that guy brag about it in front of cameras?”

Well, let’s not forget, people can be stupid. Happens all the time. Also, consider the fact this guy’s been in a Central Asian prison for 12 years, and hiking his way up through the Darien Gap, or whatever. May not actually have a lot of awareness of how quickly information can spread online. But, let’s go back and look at that first image — the dude is standing in the back of a group. The camera isn’t focused on him. It’s very possible he didn’t realize he was on camera. Also, the video was shot at what amounts to a privately run ‘Migrants are Welcome’ camp near Sasabe, Arizona. A place where volunteers provide water, possibly food, and other support to whomever.

In this case, they were rolling out the red carpet for what appears to be a legitimately bad dude.

Weird, huh?

In the end, however, this will probably also not matter. Reporters found one bad guy in a literal sea of millions. Obviously, there are plenty more where that came from who are already here.

Here’s how a 2020 report in the left-leaning online magazine ‘The Intercept” described Sasabe:

Rodriguez and a growing group of humanitarian volunteers began turning their attention to Sasabe in mid-September, making biweekly visits to bring food and water to migrants after learning of the explosion in arrivals to the resource-strapped community. With a population of approximately 2,500 and a single town store, the port of entry at Sasabe has long been described as one of the quietest official crossings in the state. There is no migrant shelter in the town, and the influence and power of organized crime in the area is well known.

—Reporter Ryan Deveraux, The Intercept, in 2020

We emphasized and italicized the last line there which really struck us. Wonder if there’s any spots along the Rio Grande in Texas that also qualify for that kind of a statement?

Of course there are.

Subscribe now

Today’s a fairly big day locally in Kinney County. Expecting folks from many of the surrounding communities to also be here, participating in this land owner’s meeting.

We mentioned it in a previous news letter. It’s a chance for plain ol’ folks to get in some VIP’s faces, of course, but the main goal is to disseminate information about a new state program meant to reimburse landowners for their damaged property and other losses attributable to the Southern Border Crisis.

Readers may recall one recent incident, where a smuggler ran over miles and miles of fencing and gates while running from DPS, doing an estimated $160,000 in damages.

Subscribe now

As it happens, one of the candidates running for Congress against area Representative Tony Gonzales will be next door at the Kinney County Library as the event breaks up.

Jokingly, we teased Frank Lopez about his sense of timing— he said it’s no coincidence, he’s hoping to meet some voters, answer their questions, and make his own case.

Speaking personally, we first met Frank a few years back at a rally and trailride in Del Rio in support of the mounted Border Patrol agents who were falsely accused of whipping Haitian migrants.

Frank’s a former Border Patrolman, one of the founders of the Border Patrol Chaplain program, and one of the most-sincere observers of the Border Crisis we’ve seen. He’s also quite a creative thinker, which is a compliment.

Gonzales has been singled out by Texas Republicans, for frequently voting against party-identified interests, and has been censured by the party, making it much easier for challengers like Frank to primary him. Many critics believe he also has financial and/or familial ties to at least one of the NGO’s participating in the border crisis.

One must be honest however, it remains an uphill battle, with Gonzales able to raise a lot of money in San Antonio and from out-of-state donors.

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

Anyway— that’s all for now. Remember the name Samadov. With any luck he’ll end up on a deportation list next week.

Have a great morning, we’ll be back again, probably tomorrow morning if anything of broader interest comes of that Landowner’s meeting here in Kinney County.

Until then, keep it high and tight, and we’ll do the same.

As always, no one should mistake this humble newsletter for any official statement on behalf of anyone.

It is produced solely by us, without any sort of oversight, as our record of self-corrections can attest. See you soon.

We originally planned not to publish again so soon, feeling as though there wasn’t much to add to the press of what we thought was mostly factual coverage of recent events along the river in Eagle Pass. Of course, once we started looking into the recent drownings in the Rio Grande, we found that things were a little distorted. More on that in just a moment.

It was upon realizing that today, Monday, was Martin Luther King Day, our subconscious started doing that thing it does sometimes, where we start drawing connections between certain events and other material we’ve seen online, and we realized we had the hardest part of putting together a newsletter already knocked out.

It’d be a shame not to go the rest of the way, so here we are.

We are not the first to call what’s happening in Eagle Pass right now the beginnings of a Civil Cold War. To the best of our knowledge, that honor goes to writer and analyst Todd Bensman, effectively diagnosing what is happening even before DPS and Texas Military Forces began denying access to Shelby Park, where up until recently Border Patrol has been processing all comers.

It is a frustrating sort of middle ground, for some border hawks, who would like to see an even more muscular effort and response from the Governor. As it is, the move is mostly symbolic, as even DPS and others acknowledge that most migrants are now simply crossing at different areas away from Shelby Park.

However, they do note that it is a much bigger inconvenience than most American observers probably realize. As it is, it’s an excellent piece of disobedience, in our opinion— forcing the Federal Government to react but react carefully. Putting a foot wrong in this case, is guaranteed to exacerbate the Federal Government’s problems and actually strengthen the support Texas has. As a chess move, it may not be perfect, but we do believe it’s a good one. It beats playing checkers. We hope we’re not giving the Governor’s Office too much credit.

Speaking of checkers, a lot of bloviation the last couple of days on the basis of a statement written by US Congressman Henry Cuellar, excoriating Texas for somehow “letting” a mother and two children drown while denying Border Patrol access to the boat ramp in Shelby Park.

Well, wouldn’t you know— the truth is much more nuanced, once reality has had the last at-bat.

Here’s the Texas Military Department’s response:

There’s a lot to say here. Let’s start with the fact that migrants have been drowning in this river in large numbers for the duration of the border crisis, and it is some kind of special stupid to suddenly be offended on their behalf when clearly these people who are pretending to care haven’t cared one single bit this whole time. Indeed, they’ve been ignoring the deaths, as if they’re an appropriate sacrifice on the altar of whatever monetary and other goals that are being pursued here.

The key takeaway here is that Border Patrol was actually trying to get at two other migrants that might’ve been traveling with that mom and two kids and were being blocked from doing so. That’s what’s got them so upset.

Henry Cuellar should’ve known better, and we are deeply disappointed in him and his staff. Indeed, few national politicians along the river are as familiar with how dangerous the river is. We must consequently assign the most cynical and opportunistic motives for him to suddenly be opening his mouth about it now.

There’s also something to be said about what may be a disturbing one-sided culture of laziness that has been permitted to grow along the riverbanks.

It seems quite likely and obvious that Mexican authorities have been permitted to largely ignore their own responsibilities for water rescue and other matters on their side of the river. And why shouldn’t they? Border Patrol will do the work— US taxpayers will pay— Esta bien.

And yet, when they want to insist on their own jurisdictional boundaries extending into the middle of the waters, they do.

In other words, to borrow from deeper thinkers, they want to have their cake and eat it too.

This also is compounded by the corruption involved. Promise you folks— some of the same authorities responsible for rescuing people from the Mexican side of the river are also the same people trafficking these migrants.

We all say Cartel, but in Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuna, what’s really meant is the corrupt local institutions that are historically reliant on the “mordida” for their pay, that have maintained control over the local plazas, and seem to have kept out the more violent gangs that govern in the style of the CJNG, or the Golfo Cartel.

So, shame on Henry Cuellar, and shame on all these other shovelheads that have been ignoring the near daily calls for water rescues and drownings in Eagle Pass up until now. Indeed, local water rescue and EMS are beyond overwhelmed.

The humanitarian crisis unfolding in the city’s backyard has become too much for some of Mello’s toughest firefighters to bear.

“One of the lead swift water rescue guys never complained in his life,” he said. “And one day out of the blue, he just said, ‘I’m tired of going out there. I’m tired of seeing dead people.’ That really hits home.”

While the state and federal governments continue to clash over how to address the border problems, Mello and his crew prepare for the next surge.

“I’m hoping that it, it completely stops,” he said. “But, then again, history has told us that it’s not so.”

—Eagle Pass Fire Chief Manuel Mello, transcript taken from a KSAT-12/San Antonio News Report dated 1 day ago.

All of those deaths, and these most recent ones, are actually on the heads of the White House and every other enabler of this crisis, encouraging the bringing of untold record numbers of poor people here, only for them to be victimized over and over again.

Allowing them to enter the United States— rewarding the dirtbags trying to take advantage of them— is not any kind of a solution to the problem. It only makes it worse and encourages more to come.

Is it possible that the Texas Military Department is lying? Sure. Is it possible that the Feds are lying? Sure. So how do you choose between the two? Well, one’s from Texas. And the other’s been lying throughout the length of this whole crisis.

That clear it up? Anyone want to give odds on whether or not national press will be running any corrections, given the State’s rebuttal? We won’t hold our breath.

Weird.

Subscribe now

Today is Martin Luther King Day. And we are reminded of a past Dispatch that found parallels between the seminal human rights song “Strange Fruit,” and a lesser-known feature of border smuggling culture: The Rape Trees.

Like the drownings in Eagle Pass, it is notable how the rape culture along the border is ignored as soon as it is no longer a suitable weapon to be used against whomever is in power.

Some organizations must surely suffer from some sort of a collective whiplash with how quickly they recoil from the subject depending on the occupancy of the White House.

Anyway— here’s what we said back in 2022:

We write this dispatch after dark, as the official Martin Luther King Federal Holiday draws to a close. In 1939, legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday sang the song “Strange Fruit.”

The opening lyrics are here:

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees”

It’s a song about lynching. And the history of the song is something to read. And it should be a source of great shame for anyone to realize that trees along the border today still sometimes bear their own form of strange fruit. The women may survive their ordeal— but that is no excuse for the hollow, two-faced border policies that have persisted for so long and produced their own special, sick miseries.

—A Past Dispatch, from January 22, 2022.

If you’re one of our new readers and you don’t know what the heck we’re talking about here— don’t worry, here’s the whole thing, we called it “A Cost Measured in Misery.”

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

Keeping it short today. It’s a holiday. And, we have chores.

As always, this newsletter is an independent work product and should not be confused for any sort of official communication on behalf of Kinney County government, despite our employment there. It is produced without any kind of oversight and any errors, misdeeds, or other issues are entirely our own.

Have a great day— we’ll see you again soon.

What a wild way to end the week. Ordinarily we try not to publish on Fridays, since that’s when most folks aren’t paying attention to the news, historically— distracted by weekend preps, their daily lives, etc.

But current events compel.

Here’s what we’re looking at this morning:

1. Governor Abbott, Thursday, notified the City of Eagle Pass, the Federal Government and Border Patrol, that DPS and the Texas State Guard are seizing control of Shelby Park. Shelby Park is that area along the river under the ports of entry where most of the migrants crossing into Eagle Pass are kept milling about while waiting for Border Patrol to process them. With the seizure, DPS is declaring the area off-limits to the public, to migrants and illegal aliens, and most importantly any federal agents like Border Patrol.

2. DPS Helicopter Crash in Kinney County

3. Republican Challenger in TX28 (Henry Cuellar’s district)

Let’s start with Eagle Pass— there’s a lot of nifty pictures and video of corn-fed Texas men and women carrying rifles and doing their thing as they secure Shelby Park, but does it really matter? Here’s the Texas Tribune’s take on the thing:

In a video posted on Facebook, (Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando) Salinas said he received a call from DPS officials on Wednesday to let him know that Gov. Greg Abbott had signed an emergency declaration and that officers would take “full control” of 47-acre Shelby Park indefinitely.

“That is not a decision that we agreed to. This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city,” Salinas said in the video.

—Reporter Uriel Garcia, The Texas Tribune

It should be noted that Eagle Pass is still a fairly “blue” city. And it’s fairly safe to assume that Mayor Salinas is trying to placate any constituents that might be upset. Even so, one wonders if his words might not also be addressed to certain interests on the other side of the river that might also be upset.

In any event, the answer to the larger question about whether or not this move actually matters is dependent of course mostly on who’s asking.

A lot of folks out there are quick to say that the shutdown of Shelby Park won’t do a thing to actually stem any traffic— that any migrants will simply march a few miles north or south and cross elsewhere.

Indeed, that is already happening, as pictures and video from the unincorporated community of Normandy can attest.

Normandy’s in the same County as Eagle Pass and sits 16 miles northwest of the city.

It has about 60 residents.

It seems to us, that this move at Shelby Park, at its core, is not about the migrants. This is about the Federal Government. It’s about forcing some kind of a showdown in front of the Supreme Court. The fact that it’ll keep Border Patrol Agents from cutting any more of the concertina wire in Shelby Park is just an added bonus.

Open borders activists are already trying to sputter about how migrant crossings in Eagle Pass are already down from previous weeks’ highs, so why this and why now?

Well, if you consider that it isn’t actually about any specific crossings or crossing points, you realize that question is pointless. But there’s also the fact that Mexico still has several caravans on the way to the border— if this influences any of them to cease or change their destination, one could chalk that up as a bonus cherry on top of the State and Federal showdown sundae.

We do still find ourselves curious about the timing, though. Theoretically, Governor Abbott could’ve done this months ago. Is it a matter of him having more support from Congressional Republicans as demonstrated by that recent 60+ person Congressional visit to Eagle Pass? Is there some other indication of changes behind the scenes? Maybe it’s just a matter of being a good time to look like Vice-Presidential material.

Who knows at this point? At the end of the day the only thing that’s certain is that it’s better late than never, and we hope to see more, faster please.

Subscribe now

After reading the DPS statement, looking at the published photographs on Breitbart, one feels pretty confident in assuming last night’s DPS Helicopter Crash in Kinney County is going to be a matter of mechanical failure.

A Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter crashed in Kinney County while helping ground crews track a group of migrants attempting to avoid apprehension in the brush. The two crew members onboard did not sustain any major injuries, according to a law enforcement source.

At approximately 7:25 p.m. on January 11, a Texas DPS helicopter experienced an inflight emergency and appeared to crash land into a field in Kinney County. The helicopter crew was reported to be assisting a DPS brush crew with tracking a group of migrants attempting to avoid apprehension while hiking through a Texas ranch near the border region.

DPS helicopter crews routinely assist troopers and Border Patrol agents on the ground as they track migrants marching through the brush.

—Reporters Bob Price and Randy Clark, Breitbart

For a few moments, we have no doubt there were some fears that perhaps there was a sinister explanation for the crash, but that’s looking very unlikely now.

Many don’t realize it, but helicopters fall out of the sky all the time. Especially in high-use sectors like the US Military. In this case, DPS has been flogging the heck out of their equipment for the last 3 years— the choppers are very valuable in brush work, sporting high-powered cameras and infrared sensors.

At one time, it seemed as though DPS was inclined to eschew drones, in favor of continued investment in the helicopters. But, the operating costs are so lopsided, it’s clear there’s room for both, even though technically helicopters are more capable.

Not sure how long an NTSB investigation might take, but given that there’s no hint of foul play, unless the crash investigation turns some up, we don’t expect the results of it to make news. It’ll come and go without notice. Nothing sinister, just facts.

Subscribe now

Don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a Republican challenger taking a swing at the South Texas King— U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar in TX28.

So far, we don’t know much about the man. His name’s Jay Furman, and he’s apparently a retired US Navy Commander.

Commander’s a pretty decent rank, falling just under Captain, which is roughly equivalent to a Colonel in the US Army.

After a spin through Furman’s website, we can say one thing for absolute sure: The man takes a pretty good photo.

According to his website bio, he served 28 years in the Navy. Here’s some of the red meat:

Today’s Democrats are the most radical and lawless in history. South Texans did not vote for: fake borders, gender madness, a weakened military, sky-high prices, energy dependence, another foreign war, arrested political enemies, spying on the American public and Church, giving up our gun rights. Rep. Henry Cuellar has. In fact, he has voted with President Biden 95% of the time.

—Copy from ‘CommanderFurman.com’

Looking at some of the other data on the page, it looks like Furman’s main office is in San Antonio. That’s probably good. TX28 as most of our longtime readers know is anchored at both ends by Laredo in the South and portions of San Antonio and San Marcos in the North.

Looking at Furman’s LinkedIn page, it looks like he has a naval aviation background, and spent some additional time with some kind of staff position with US Central Command in Africa. Wouldn’t mind hearing his take on the present showdown in the Red Sea, frankly, as the Houthis lob inexpensive drones at shipping, costing us literally millions and millions of dollars to shoot them down. Seems he’d be very qualified on the subject.

A little more research, and we find that Furman is also one of a few on active duty who openly questioned the Covid-19 mass vaccination mandates that were forced upon US Military personnel. At the time, some used the word whistleblower to describe him.

Historically, Henry Cuellar has been just conservative enough of a Democrat to maintain his position, though he barely squeaked through a nailbiter in the primaries last election.

Our prediction is that Furman, and any other challenger, will have to bank heavily on the San Antonio vote. Cuellar seems to have a lock on the Laredo and Zapata areas. As we’ve noted in the past, residents there are well aware of the porcine benefits that come with seniority in Congress, and Cuellar is well positioned for bringing home the bacon, if that’s all constituents care about.

On the whole, longtime readers can probably recall, we’ve a bit of a bias toward Cuellar from our days covering news in Webb County. The man was always available and if he had to duck an awkward question, he never seemed to take it personally. It should be noted that he’s probably the most conservative Democrat in Congress.

We also have good friends that swear to the heavens how much they hate Cuellar.

Heh.

All in all, we look forward to seeing more of Furman and learning what he’s made of. Hopefully he’s ready for any kind of carpetbagging accusations. Can’t help but note, the bio on his webpage doesn’t say much about where he grew up and so forth. The Linked In page says he got his bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M.

As we continue trying to research more background information on the man, we’ve also turned up a recent interview by NTD news. NTD is some kind of corporate relative of the Epoch Times.

On the whole, he seems to say a lot of good things. It’ll be interesting to see how things develop, especially if Cuellar sees another strong primary challenger from the left as he did last go ‘round.

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

That should do it for now. Thank you to all our new subscribers, and to all our readers who share the newsletter with their friends. By now most have heard there’s going to be a bitterly cold couple of days in the forecast. Stay warm and keep your friends and neighbors close. If the last winter weather outage taught us anything— it taught us what really matters. We’ll see you on the other side of it.

As always, this newsletter should not be mistaken for any kind of official communication by Kinney County, despite our employment there. It remains a personal work product, produced without oversight, and any errors, misdeeds, or other issues are entirely our own.

Don’t expect to get too lyrical today. Today’s more journalistic than it is poetic.

A bizarre case is occupying Kinney County Sheriffs Office investigators and trackers, who spent much of Monday following a 26-mile cross-country trail of destruction.

Unfortunately for us, no photos have been cleared for release, but in our official capacity we have seen some of the photos that have been taken, including the damage done to one ranch’s decorative main gate.

Let’s back up a second— here’s the copy we’ve prepared for our now resuming weekly release to the local newspaper:

Investigators with the Kinney County Sheriffs Office are looking into an especially wanton crime spree.   Apparently, a smuggler with a truckload of illegal aliens decided to take out almost every fence and gate between him and the Real County line, as he followed a predetermined course for 26 miles cross-country.  Additional fencing and gates were damaged in Real County.

Investigators say at some point the driver even got a little turned around and hit the same fences twice, just yards away from each other.

In all, the driver damaged at least a dozen fences and gates that investigators have identified, but more discoveries could be made in the days ahead.

It's too soon for a full and accurate damage assessment, but Sheriff Brad Coe and his investigators agree, the number is going to be well into 6-figures and possibly multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In addition to fencing and standard ranch gates, the group also destroyed a decorative main gate on one ranch-- wrecking a relative fortune in stonework, mortar, and wrought iron.

"I assure you; they had the route planned out," says Deputy Clay Sinclair, who went on to cite several instances where the driver made very purposeful "cuts" or changes in direction that didn't necessarily follow any immediately obvious or sensible routes-- suggesting that they were following a series of virtual "push-pins" that are frequently used by smuggling route planners on smartphone map programs.

—Set for publication Thursday, in the Kinney County Post

Apparently, the spree continued for a handful of miles into Real County where the truck they were using finally just gave up.

The Sheriff and his investigators seemed rather confident that they’d be making an arrest in this one. They didn’t say why or how, but if one had to guess, we’d speculate that some of the aliens that were in the truck have been captured, and/or they have been able to identify the suspect and are already in the process of tracking him down.

Long story short, we don’t often see this sort of confidence in cases where a suspect has broken contact with law-enforcement, so there’s something different in play here.

Subscribe now

Ironically, this comes as another in a series of landowner meetings prepares to get underway.

Several meetings have already been held in area counties, including Dimmit and Maverick County.

These are primarily being focused on getting the word out about a new state program that aims to provide reimbursement to landowners whose property is damaged by human smuggling.

A lot of features of the program have yet to be actually hammered out, and State Officials are counting on the feedback from these meetings to inform their decisions about the final shape of the program. Consequently, this represents a rare occasion for folks to influence the process.

It should be noted, Congressman Chip Roy may or may not be able to actually attend— he’s been busily campaigning in Iowa on behalf of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and depending on how that shapes up, he may elect to stay put.

Subscribe now

Nationally, we’re seeing a lot of blown smoke and misdirection as things continue to slowly grind toward a possible impeachment of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Perhaps the biggest headline right now, is word from multiple sources to more than just Fox News, that Mayorkas admitted to Del Rio Sector Border Agents that right now DHS is letting more than 85-percent of people through into the United States.

It’s been assumed for a while than any kind of a screening process along the Rio Grande has been cursory at best, but today’s revelations suggest cursory isn’t nearly permissive enough of a word to describe what’s happening.

The conversation happened during the muster for agents in the busy border area. Fox is told Mayorkas was asked directly about comments he made on "Special Report" last week when he was asked by anchor Bret Baier about reporting that over 70% of migrants are released into the U.S. each day.

"It would not surprise me at all. I know the data," Mayorkas said. "And I will tell you that when individuals are released, they are released into immigration enforcement proceedings. They are on alternatives to detention. And we have returned or removed a record number of individuals. We are enforcing the laws that Congress has passed. "

Fox is told that on Monday agents pushed him on those remarks, saying that the number is even higher than 70%, and then Mayorkas acknowledged a release rate of "above 85%."

—FOX News Reporting by Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin, and Griff Jenkins

Let’s pause the ‘tape’ real quick here and recognize that the numbers may be even higher than the admitted 85-percent.

Look at just how Mayorkas is parsing everything: With Brett Baier it’s a mealy-mouthed “over 70%.”

With agents at Muster, less than a week later, the number is “above 85%.”

So, okay— if pressed during an impeachment hearing, are we going to hear that the number’s actually “more than 90%?”

The truth is, in ordinary times, one would be happy to assume that the number is 85% and change, on the basis of these statements.

But given the overall levels of deception and gas lighting that have characterized this crisis, who the hell knows? We don’t.

Mayorkas had also said last week on "Special Report" that "well more than a million" migrants are released into the U.S. annually, and argued repeatedly that it is up to Congress to provide more funding and immigration reform to fix what he has called a "broken" system. He said that the agency is limited in detention capacity by funding provided by Congress.

"When somebody enters the country, we place them in immigration enforcement proceedings pursuant to immigration law, and if their claim for relief, their claim to remain in the United States succeeds, then by law they are able to stay here," he said.

The remarks come just two days before the House Homeland Security Committee holds its first impeachment hearing, featuring multiple state attorneys general who will testify about the impact the crisis has had on their states.

The hearing on Wednesday marks the first impeachment hearing after a year of investigations and reports by the House Homeland Security Committee which looked at the handling of the nearly three-year migrant crisis.

Republicans have blamed the historic migrant crisis, which saw 302,000 migrant encounters last month alone on Biden-era policies, including the releases of migrants into the interior -- dubbed "catch-and-release." They have pointed to the broad use of parole, as well as narrowed ICE enforcement and the stopping of wall construction.
—FOX News Reporting by Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin, and Griff Jenkins

We mentioned blown smoke— there was a headline somewhere on twitter over the weekend, suggesting that Mayorkas “is one of the good guys,” fighting behind the scenes against a crooked White House.

We forgot to bookmark it, but that’s probably because we were too busy laughing.

Subscribe now

Almost done— just one more note to pass along. Something that caught our eye on Facebook over the weekend.

Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland is the Sheriff in nearby Terrell County, West of Del Rio and Val Verde County.

It’s not unusual for a lawman to endorse a political candidate. But many in the area have been caught off guard by the endorsement, as Cleveland was until recently going forward with an exploratory committee, looking into running against the incumbent Tony Gonzales.

One can only imagine that the committee’s explorations came back with a hugely negative result leading to this decision and endorsement.

Gonzales eats a lot of criticism in the area for some of his early responses to the border crisis, and perceptions that he has unusually close ties with at least one NGO that is presumably making a lot of money off the crisis.

It is fair to note these difficulties. They’re real. Sometimes it seems Gonzalez can’t make a move online or otherwise West of San Antonio without folks raising hell.

But, it is also fair to note that he’s seemed to be making an effort in recent months to be seen to be doing something constructive— whether it’s shepherding fellow lawmakers down here for repeated visits or taking part in a high profile visit by Elon Musk.

In a world that routinely falls so short of perfection, it’s tempting to extend the benefit of the doubt in all kinds of directions. Indeed, many of Gonzales’ primary opponents could use the benefit of the doubt for their own unique reasons that we won’t get into here. Suffice to say, all are human and flaws can be found, if looked for.

But are their flaws less serious than the incumbent’s? We don’t know. Many would like to think so, given their frustrations. But is that the right question to be asking? There’s an argument to be made that sometimes certain flaws are excusable when and if a candidate is willing to go hard enough in the right directions. That’s something a lot of religious conservatives say when they talk about Donald Trump. Does Tony Gonzales go hard enough in the right directions? Well, if Donald Trump is the yard stick, the answer is obviously not. But should that be the yardstick we use?

In any event, Gonzales’ position is also dogged by the memory of its previous office holder, Will Hurd, whose name still conjures up all manner of rude expectorations all over Southwest Texas, along with mutters comparing him to a certain be-horned African non-ruminant hoofed mammal. Consequently, many are ready to jump right to his Red Wedding.

In the end, none of this may even matter, Gonzales is sitting atop a hefty pile of money, the benefits of incumbency, and the fact that a good portion of Bexar County is in his district and Bexar County Republicans just don’t seem to be all that hardcore these days. Put these facts together, and it’s not hard to see why an exploratory committee might’ve changed Sheriff Cleveland’s mind about running.

Barring a major local controversy in his backyard, one imagines Sheriff Cleveland will survive any ill will stemming from the endorsement— particularly if the rumors are true, and the endorsement leads to any kind of porcine considerations for Terrell County in Washington.

That’s just smart politics folks!

Or something like that.

As for who the Dispatch is willing to endorse… well… we’d advise any border sheriff to keep their lips closed on the subject. Right now, any given candidate for any given office needs you, more than you need them. Do not trade away your integrity so easily, or so quickly, without commensurate reward.

That too, would seem like smart politics.

Share The Cavalry - Dispatch

So what’s the near future going to look like? Well, we left our crystal ball in our other pants, sadly. We’d like to think that Congressional Republicans will hold strong on taking Ukraine funding hostage and progress toward impeaching Mayorkas, but well… seems like we’ve all been let down so many times already, it’d be foolish to expect anything truly cutthroat at this point.

We’ll just have to hope they have a pleasant surprise for us. Indeed, it won’t be for lack of encouragement. We’re told Sheriff Roy Boyd, of Goliad, and others made it clear during the recent Republican Congressional visit to Eagle Pass, that these communities are resilient and ready to support them in case of a government shutdown, especially since the alternative has been such a disaster.

In any event, that’s all for today— no attempts at any kind of truly deep thoughts. Sometimes the kabuki and kayfabe are all there is.

Have a great morning and we’ll see you again soon.

As always, no one should mistake this humble newsletter for any kind of official communication by Kinney County Government, despite our employment there. It remains an independent piece of work, produced without any kind of oversight. Any errors, misdeeds, or other issues are entirely our own.

What is there to say about yesterday’s event in Eagle Pass? We have a lot of scattered impressions to add to the already excellent coverage out there, available from Ali Bradley, Auden Cabello, the Epoch Times, and other mainstream national press.

The trick so far has been finding a thread or a seam to sort of tie them all together. And that’s mainly because on the surface of the visit by Congressional Republicans and others, there wasn’t much there other than a lot of hot air and platitudes that many folks living on the border are pretty much done with.

However, one has to remind oneself, that border residents were probably not the intended audience. Indeed, judging by the approved media list, carelessly left unattended, one can assume the intended audience was a national one. Lawmakers are basically still hoping to wake up a dazed middle-american audience to what is going on.

At this stage of things, it’s starting to seem as if that’ll never happen until people find a freshly settled population of migrants in their backyards, tying up social services and breaking their local budgets.

We took a fair number of photos behind the scenes that we’ll share in just few moments, as well as more about some of what we’re hinting at, but let’s back up a moment to the idea of a unifying thread or seam to the whole event.

These 60 lawmakers were almost entirely flown to San Antonio— 1 lawmaker, 1 staffer, and herded onto motor coaches, and driven down to Eagle Pass for the event. That’s a long day and a longer drive— there and back.

Imagine it.

The only thing worse would be making the trip on a yellow dog school bus.

Think about what each individual on those coaches must have seen along the highway.

Small towns. Ranches. Asphalt. Traffic.

In all of the traffic and heading in the other direction, it is a certainty that they passed multiple other coaches and buses, filled to the brim with migrants and fraudulent asylum seekers making their own pilgrimages deeper into the Country, away from the border. Some are going all the way to DC. Others to New York. And still others to Chicago. Some are going straight to the San Antonio airport in a direct mirror image of the trip lawmakers were making to Eagle Pass.

There’s some kind of almost cosmic irony there.

Imagine it— 60 jokers in shirts and ties or business casual, headed south in buses. 600 other jokers in sweatpants and blue jeans heading the other way, also in buses.

We just need elephants, lions, tigers and bears and the circus will be complete.

For all their power, it would seem these lawmakers are not Masters of the Universe, but merely additional cogs in the machine. No wonder there doesn’t seem to be any kind of effective handle on this ridiculous, awful situation.

One Republican that was notably absent from the visit was Central Texas Congressman Chip Roy, who told Fox News that while the trip was a good thing for any lawmakers that haven’t been paying attention, the situation is such that it’s time for much stronger measures.

We agree, obviously.

He also reportedly said Texans are tired of news conferences. That is also true.

We haven’t seen the soundbite ourselves, but a friend tells us the Congressman also said something to the effect of: After coming to the border multiple times over the last few years, and promising some kind of action every time, it’s difficult to countenance coming back down there one more time and facing people there only to say “Hey, gang— still working on it.” We hope that’s accurate. It betokens an awareness of just how strung out many Texans are becoming over this and how frustrated they’re getting after what amounts to years of wasted time and foot-shuffling.

Think about it. Think about those lawmakers getting herded onto those buses, just like they’re a pack of migrants too. What a ridiculous world we’re living in.

Odds are some out there might want to quibble about our take on this symbology, but it’s kind of like modern art. We see what we see. Lump it.

Subscribe now

We mentioned Ali Bradley earlier:

Good on Ali for asking a pertinent question. But don’t take the Speaker’s attempt at an artful dodge too terribly seriously. “You have to be able to find them in order to remove them.” That’s code for “Oh gosh, we may not be able to do anything about this!”

That’s utter nonsense. If the Pentagon can find Osama Bin Laden in the middle of Pakistan, DHS can damn sure find a bunch of people that need deporting. If they can go through hours of chaotic January 6th footage and identify folks that may or may not need imprisonment, they can dang sure do this other thing too.

It’s a matter of will.

The sad truth that many national Republicans hope will go overlooked is that a lot of them are utterly beholden to mega donors like the Koch Brothers who are seeing dollar signs in the form of hoped-for cheap labor. The whole “there’s some jobs Americans just won’t do,” narrative.

Absolute nonsense.

We’ve personally driven through just about every state in the lower 48, with the exception of those in New England.

There are communities all throughout America full of people that have been hollowed out by horrible pay, inflation and economic gaslighting, and opiate addiction.

These are people desperate for a feeling of self-determination and agency— the promise of their own aspirations— many of which are quite modest.

They’ll work as hard as anyone. But their labor deserves real compensation. Not the ruthlessly and artificially chiseled down pay that is the result of illegal workers that have no choice, artificially bloated labor pools, and the resulting wage depression that we are all witness to. The tech sector is not immune to this by the way— spend a few minutes investigating H1B abuses and the complaints of many disgruntled Indian and American programmers that have been impacted by it.

These are communities that have become so broken down and hopeless that they make Kinney County and Brackettville feel like comparative paradises. At least here, problems and solutions can be clearly seen. It’s not a matter of ‘hating’ migrants. Or ‘hating’ asylum fraud, or any of that. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of knowing that many of these folks being bused into the United States are going to be at the mercy of the Cartels, operating nationwide thanks to a purposely broken and demoralized Border Patrol. It’s a matter of knowing, as Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad, TX has observed, “We are importing a new slave class.” Sheriff Boyd doesn’t mince words.

And he’s not wrong. Freedom and prosperity may be what’s being sold to these poor people, but that’s not at all what’s waiting for them.

No one knows this better than the mandarins at DHS.

Weird.

Subscribe now

Ironically, as the gathered lawmakers took their turns at the podium in Eagle Pass, a small family of Venezuelans appeared, crossing the river and interrupting comments by Ohio’s Jim Jordan. This is despite the best efforts to clear out any Migrants on both sides of the river as we documented yesterday—

Fresh from the river, it would seem the family unit in question is fortunate to have avoided whatever cartel or federale sweeps that have disrupted the 3,000 persons daily that have been coming through Eagle Pass until most recently.

Subscribe now

So far we’ve mostly shown you other people’s photos and work— so let’s take a moment to publish some of our own. We don’t expect to fool anyone into thinking we have a bright future in taking news photos.

A little bit of the behind the scenes, as the sausage gets made. This is as things started to break up, with lawmakers dispersing for one-on-one interviews:

Look closely to the left edge of the crowd, and squint a little, and you might see Auden Cabello. Looks like he’s fiddling with his phone— probably getting more photos and video uploaded to twitter, instagram, facebook….

It’s too much!

Don’t know how people keep up with getting things up online. Whoever figures out how to write one block of text, and upload one picture to one app that then goes and populates all of your social media is going to officially be the Sauron of the Internet. Forget one ring to rule them all— it’s going to be one app to rule them all in the future.

Could be someone’s already done it, and that’s the secret sauce yours truly has been missing.

A gaggle of reporters and cameras like this is frequently called a scrum. It’s a rugby word, basically referencing a pile of jostling bodies all scrambling toward a goal. In journalism they can be relatively genteel like this particular one, or all elbows and pushing like you sometimes see on courthouse steps and other chaotic situations.

Here’s a look at the reporters row:

We’re standing right in front of the Fox crew’s truck— the big grey hood. If we could do it all over again, we’d have stepped back a few and shot some more of just that truck. The thing is just too pretty to be put to work out in the brush.

It’s covered in scratch resistant paint, winches, widgets, cargo racks— it looks like a Colombian drug dealer’s idea of what an Afghan Technical should look like, minus the .50 cal machine gun. They’re ready to disappear into the desert for a week with that thing. It probably almost never leaves the highway though.

Further down, you can see a tight little satellite truck in black paint— that’s where the Newsnation crew was set up for their live hits and so forth.

At the top of the newsletter, we mentioned the carelessly unattended media list. We should probably talk about that now as we wind things up this morning.

Despite an email to the contrary, saying we’d be on the list, we found out on our arrival that we were not. Almost as if we’d been uninvited, or someone forgot to add us after saying they would.

Who knows.

The funny thing is, after about 20 minutes of standing around and shooting the breeze in the publicly accessible area, people seemed to assume we were on the payroll and began asking us questions as if we were one of the organizers.

Little wonder, since all of the near children who had been wrangling press had disappeared, leaving us to a pleasant conversation with one of the lawmakers’ campaign managers.

We have razors older than some of these kids, friends— daresay some of you do too.

So, we took advantage and looked at the papers they’d abandoned. The approved media list consisted almost entirely of national and statewide press. The only “local” press were the crews from the network affiliates in San Antonio. This would seem to confirm our impression that this event wasn’t really aimed at border residents at all.

Sometime around then, a couple of mostly Spanish speaking correspondents showed up from local media in Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras. They looked at us. DPS looked at us. We shrugged and told them to go on ahead and walk right in. Like a boss.

What a world.

Subscribe now

That should do it for now. The sun will be up in an hour. We wish we could say something about how convinced we are that something good will come of this thing, but we aren’t. Convinced.

We hesitate to just totally crap all over the thing, however. While it is true that it felt like something that should have happened back in 2021, instead of 2024, we have to confess that we’re not sure we’re the best judge of what will be effective and what won’t.

Recall— we kind of crapped all over Governor Abbott’s plans to bus migrants to New York and Washington D.C. when they were first announced. And yet, that’s arguably the only thing that’s really moved the dial in a big noticeable way. Some say the busing is bad— that it contributes to the dispersal of migrants around the country and Texas shouldn’t be doing it. They’re not wrong in saying it— but in a realpolitik sense— sometimes a lesser ‘evil’ is good in the long run— especially if it makes folks in Chicago, New York, and elsewhere wake the heck up and pay attention to what they’ve been ignoring.

So— who knows— maybe we’re wrong about this thing too. It could be that it’s a display by the Speaker— demonstrating that he’s now in charge and there’s going to be some changes in DC.

If only. Getting 60+ cats herded up and all moving in one direction is a demonstration of control all by itself, one supposes. Especially when you think some more about that 2-hour ride on a bus.

Share

Have a great morning— we’ll see you again soon. As always, no one should mistake this newsletter for any kind of an official communication on behalf of Kinney County. Despite our employment there, this remains an independent work product. The newsletter is a solo project, and any errors, misdeeds, or bad takes are entirely our own doing and responsibility.

We’ll be back again soon enough— maybe just to revisit the Global Compact on Migration, which doesn’t get enough attention, but largely goes unmentioned because it is such a mess to unravel in the midst of everything else that’s going on.

If you can’t wait until then— here’s one of our earliest passes on the subject from way back when, filed in the closing days of the Haitian crisis in Del Rio back in 2021.

We need to start off with a correction— we had our days a little mixed up yesterday morning, when we were mentioning a major event scheduled for later that day in Eagle Pass.

Obviously, it’s actually happening today, Wednesday.

Don’t have a real excuse for the error, but we’ll blame New Year’s Eve, or something, and move on quickly.

Haven’t seen a guest list, but it looks like the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and roughly 60 other dignitaries— mostly Congressional Republicans— will be dropping in to Eagle Pass to see things for themselves.

Sadly, it looks like it’s already being set up to be cast as a political event.

Isn’t that weird? Someone’s made all the migrants disappear and stopped any new ones from showing up!

What on earth??

It’s so strange!

Longtime readers can probably detect our snarkiness and sarcasm here, because this sort of thing has been happening repeatedly for the duration of the crisis these last three years.

Every time Mayorkas or some other dignitary schedules a visit to any particular border crossing, authorities on both sides of the river somehow do whatever they need to do to clear the migrants out before the bosses show up.

AP Reporter Valerie Gonzalez, one of those from the RGV who we happen to think highly of, is one of the first we know of who covered an element of the process— reporting on Mexican military and law-enforcement sweeps through migrant camps in Reynosa and other locations, confiscating whatever necessaries they could to “encourage” migrants to abandon the camps and move on elsewhere.

It was very effective reporting and may have predated the creation of the Dispatch by several weeks or months. If not this particular story we linked to, then others predating it.

At the time, she was writing for the local daily in the RGV and has since gone on to work for the AP— a big promotion, any way you cut it.

We’ve heard from multiple US Border Patrol Agents who’ve conversed with their opposite numbers across the river who’ve also confirmed similar activities that have gone underreported elsewhere.

In this sense— far left and far right border hawks and activists can find common grounds for agreement— in a way, this is the fakest, most ridiculous, most manipulated border crisis ever. There are obviously major differences in how to resolve it, and any compromise is probably just going to upset both parties, but hopefully lawmakers will come away from their visit to Eagle Pass with renewed resolve to continue holding White House funding priorities hostage in exchange for something meaningful on the border. As fake as many aspects of the crisis seem— there’s nothing fake about the numbers of people coming here from all over the world— numbers that are only bound to increase with recent announcements that certain Central American governments will no longer require visas for certain nations, so long as travelers intend to travel right on through to Mexico, and presumably on to the US from there.

If we sound sort of doubtful, or skeptical about this upcoming event in Eagle Pass, it’s probably because a major part of us is. We’ve been reminded several times recently, that we just might be the biggest sucker and chump on the border— constantly falling for various lawmakers’ attempts at talking the talk, and then left confounded as they fail to even try walking the walk.

Governor Abbott gets plenty of criticism from people we respect, but at the end of the day, Gregg Abbott’s never toyed with our emotions the way some of these others have.

He’s been relatively honest about his goals and his aims, compared to some of these other jokers.

It may say more about us and the covert contracts we are laying on some of these tough-talking legislative hombres than it does anything else, but so be it.

Subscribe now

That’s all for now— short and sweet.

As always, no one should mistake this newsletter for any kind of an official communication on behalf of Kinney County, even though we are employed there. It is produced without oversight, and any errors or other misdeeds are entirely our own.

Have a great morning and we’ll be back again tomorrow with our take on whatever happens in Eagle Pass.

Debated a bit about whether or not to publish this particular edition of the newsletter, but we realized there’s been no single thing more objectionable to us at this date and time than certain folks who ought to know better, still trying to claim that there is no border crisis. That it isn’t really real.

It takes a very special person to claim this at such a late date when even the Biden White House has started to pretend it’s going to do something about the crisis.

And, as it happens, we know one of these individuals personally from our old days past of doing TV news in Austin, TX.

His name is Fred Cantu, he’s more of a TV news personality than he is an actual journalist at this point. He’s a bit of a symptom of the ongoing irrelevance of local broadcasting in many communities. “Uncle Fred,” as many call him, has been on the air in Austin since 1980.

Can’t remember the last time Fred turned a “real” news story. If you asked him, he’d probably lie and tell you he can’t either, because the truth that it’s probably been a decade or two would be too embarrassing.

That said— it’s not like its Fred’s fault. He performs in the fashion that is most pleasing to his employers, and he’s managed to more or less cling to his job in the Austin market all these years, so by some measures one would say he’s been mightily successful.

That’s the tweet that caught our eye over the holidays. Fred and some character from Texas Public Radio named Pablo De La Rosa are trying to claim that the record numbers we’re seeing aren’t actually that high. That we’ve done this all before and “the nation survived.”

They have that chart full of numbers right there saying everything’s normal!

Must be true, friends.

Well, no— if you look— that stupid little chart only goes back to August 2022. We were deep in the middle of this thing by then. Try presenting a chart that goes back to 2016. Or 2018.

As it is, Cantu and De La Rosa are ignoring the well documented fact that we’re presently attempting to absorb so many millions of Central and South Americans, that they dwarf the populations of nearly half the States in the Union.

Do you know the word mendacious?

It means “Not telling the truth, lying.”

And it is most appropriately used when referring to political statements and increasingly, journalism.

That stupid little chart, even if it is 100-percent accurate in what it’s presenting, is being used in a mendacious fashion. And these two chumps— De La Rosa and Cantu are clapping along like clowns in a circus. “No crisis, no crisis! See? Chart! See? Numbers! Tra la la la la!”

Just what’s the difference between being mendacious and lying anyway? Well, Webster says one is more formal than the other, and suggestive of harmlessness. That is, if someone is being mendacious, it’s a less serious offense than if they were being a lying rat. A difference of degrees.

It may be worth noting that Cantu is originally from the Rio Grande Valley and De La Rosa works there now. If that’s worth noting, it’s also worth noting that the RGV’s numbers have been relatively steady and haven’t shown the same level of crisis being seen in the Del Rio sector and parts of rural Arizona.

No excuse though for the way these two are trying to cling to a long-ago blown out narrative that the crisis isn’t real.

That narrative was one of the reasons we first started the Dispatch— even now we struggle with communicating the sheer frustration felt with witnessing what is going on every day and having what amounts to unpaid political operatives insisting that it is all just in our pointy little heads and isn’t real.

We’ve said a lot of negative things about old Fred just now. So, we should probably point out that there’s a lot of good reasons many folks in Austin just sort of cluck their tongues, smile, and murmur something about “Uncle Fred,” when he puts his foot in his mouth.

He’s a very sweet old man. Very avuncular. Dignified. Classy, but in a normal sort of working man way. Not a wealthy “putting on airs type.” And it’s not just an act for the cameras.

Back in 2008 when the TV business was circling the drain, without a single drop of national advertising money out there for cars, razor blades, or beer, Fred was an easy target for the bean counters. There’s no denying the dignity he displayed while the contract talks went against him. Talking about a man who is the sole caretaker for at least one person with a serious disability. Don’t want to get too deep into his personal life, but Fred was one person who *needed* his job and at his age couldn’t afford to just pick up and hustle on over to the next gig in some other market. So Fred did what he had to do, which included a brief stint selling power tools at an Austin-area hardware store, before things got back to normal for him.

Very admirable. Very dignified in how he conducted himself in what could have been seen as humiliating circumstances.

But, like many folks he has a huge blind spot where it comes to the border and border issues. With many folks living and working in the RGV, or having an RGV background, one finds a sort of tunnel vision. For them, if it isn’t happening in the RGV, it isn’t real.

This hearkens back to some of the earliest points we’ve tried making at the Dispatch about how the border is absolutely not a 1-size fits all proposition— that there are major differences in culture and geography as you head north and west along the Rio Grande, and it’s the height of cluelessness whenever folks in Washington, Austin, or the RGV act otherwise.

Laredo is very different from McAllen, which is very different from Eagle Pass. Eagle Pass and Del Rio are neighbors—and yet, the two are also different from each other. It may have something to do with Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass having more of a freight/trade relationship and Acuna and Del Rio being more pastoral.

Can’t tell you how common it was, back in the day when we were covering news in Laredo, to get a breathless call from some Congressional staffer telling us to be sure and roll tape on a satellite feed from DC, where “major border news” was going to be announced.

Inevitably, we’d roll tape and try to make room in our shows, only to discover that this “major border news” only affected the RGV and had almost zero relevance to the Laredo area.

It happened all the time.

Must confess to some latent schadenfreude related to recent congressional field hearings in the RGV, where local press and dignitaries were told they would be participating in a very important border discussion. Folks must’ve felt like they’d been treated to a bait and switch when the discussion was almost entirely focused on the mayhem and chaos in the Del Rio sector, including a roughly 15-minute video about the boulders that have been erected outside Brackett ISD campus to keep high speed pursuits from crashing into students and buildings.

Can you imagine? Folks in the RGV being forced to sit through a bunch of Kinney County and Del Rio sector talk for once? Hilarious! They were pretty upset about it, if memory serves.

Why do they do these things? Why do they host everything in the RGV? One imagines its a logistical matter. Easier to catch commercial flights in and out of the area.

In order to get to Del Rio and Eagle Pass they pretty much have to drive out from San Antonio. This contributes to the impression people have that McAllen and Harlingen are the end all be all when it comes to the border.

We’ve rambled quite a bit here. Some readers may be wondering what the point was, or even who cares.

What this whole episode highlights, to our mind, is the importance of examining these folks and their backgrounds, as they report on what’s happening. Don’t mind confessing— that it seems almost inevitable that when we come across reporters making these sorts of crazy statements this late in the game, they are inevitably from the RGV.

Does that mean all the reporters from the RGV suck? Obviously not. Some are objectively excellent, or at least no worse than their counterparts in other parts of the state. But the RGV is its own place. They used to call it the Magic Valley. The Magic Valley— that’s a name suggestive of a place divorced from everywhere else. Of course it is. It’s magic!

And some of that sort of separation still exists today. It’s an insular area with many of its own unique customs and expectations that don’t exist anywhere else in the State of Texas. Maybe we should just cut Uncle Fred some slack.

Or not. Forget the slack.

This is something like gaslighting. Or the most horrible expression of Alzheimer’s or some other age-related deficiency.

Fred’s a sweet old man. And it doesn’t feel quite right dunking on him. But this is inexcusable.

Shame on him and that twerp at NPR. At best, they don’t know what they’re talking about. At worst, they’re mendacious dirtbags.

Subscribe now

A screwy little story out of the Daily Mail caught our eye.

It details a series of incidents Sunday in the El Paso area, where allegedly, at least one Border Patrol agent and one Texas Guardsman are accused of sending “migrants” back to Mexico instead of letting them cross concertina wire barriers and moving them into processing.

As the reporter hastens to tell the reader— for the Border Patrol agent at least— that’s illegal, and according to current policy, the agent should have ushered them right in and allowed them to claim asylum.

As for the Guardsman, he was apparently distracted by the overwhelming numbers, and the “migrants” he initially tried to send back were able to slip across anyway once his back was turned.

We’re told an investigation is underway. Don’t personally expect much to come of it— if the agent is even identified, he’ll more than likely be able to chalk it up to some kind of mistaken communication between him and the Venezuelan, who must’ve misunderstood what he was trying to tell him, or some such.

As for the Guardsman… well, it all kind of speaks to what we’ve been saying for a while now.

A lot of low-information conservatives out there seem to be thinking that Texas is getting it done. That Greg Abbott and them Tejas boys are guarding the border. And it just isn’t so. Abbott’s doing more than any governor has in the history of the State, but it still hasn’t done much to close the border.

We feel a lot of sympathy for Abbott as he goes through the motions of trying to highlight federal fecklessness and establish a history of trying to work with them.

Many around the country are repelled by the notion of a true rift between Texas and the Federal Government and rightfully so. Most are not ready to consider what it might look like if Abbott and the State went “all the way,” in opposition to the Feds and truly locked it down. What it might look like, or what it might lead to.

And let’s be honest— Abbott is also trying to protect the State’s economy. One imagines the calculation by some blow-dried hairdo in Austin is that most Texans will tolerate the current state of affairs to some degree, as long as the money’s good and the stores are full.

Is our imaginary political consultant correct? So far, seems to be.

And yet— we keep coming back to how some of these “border experts” on twitter keep saying how Texas has no standing. How Texas has no power over immigration and how Abbott is pushing it and should stand down before the Feds slap him down.

They’ve been saying that for a while, haven’t they?

And yet— it just hasn’t happened, has it?

Recall our past Dispatch, about leftwing fears about what might happen if a showdown actually made it to the Supreme Court? It was more than a year ago, and not much has changed.

Faster please.

Subscribe now

Have a great morning— am told today’s going to be a big day, with some kind of a big announcement in Eagle Pass featuring a great big gang of dignitaries.

We’ll see. It feels safe to predict that this is going to be another “informational visit,” that winds up being short of actual concrete news.

Until then— keep it cool and keep your eyes and ears open. No matter how we all might wish things were ‘normal,’ they actually aren’t. At best, we’re all blindly feeling our way through a slowly but visibly still evolving new normal. Spooky, no?

That’s the thing about a transitory period. It all sort of shines a spotlight on how shaky certain foundations can become— foundations that in ordinary times one would safely assume to be rock solid.

As always, this newsletter is an independent work product, produced as separately as possible from our day job fielding public information requests for Kinney County. We make this announcement as always in the spirit of full disclosure and to stay in keeping with County policies regarding social media.