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Texas
Related: About this forumAbbott's political theater at the border has outlived any usefulness and is taking a toll on Texas
Texas has been predicted to turn blue for a long time. Greg is worried and is using really stupid political stunts to try to win
Link to tweet
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Abbott-s-political-theater-at-the-border-has-17137845.php?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow
This is not the first time Operation Lone Star, the costly exercise in political grandstanding launched by Gov. Greg Abbott in March 2021, has been shaken by a terrible loss. Army Times reported in December that over the preceding two months, four soldiers involved with the operation had died by suspected suicide.
Furthermore, a number of the 10,000 men and women deployed to the border or otherwise providing support to the operation have reported issues with morale, housing, or even with being paid on time.
All of which raises the question of why were sending service members to the border an extremely dangerous place, to hear Republicans tell it with so little consideration and without even basic safety devices. As Morales noted, water rescues are a regular occurrence along the river, as are accidental drownings.
The most plausible answer to that overarching question sadly, outrageously is that Operation Lone Star is a political operation designed to highlight President Joe Bidens weaknesses and raise Abbotts national profile.
A similar case could be made about Abbotts brief, ludicrous border shutdown last month, which began when he announced that Texas Department of Public Safety officers would be conducting their own inspections of every commercial vehicle traveling north through the states ports of entry.
These were redundant inspections. The federal government, via Customs and Border Protection, inspects northbound truck traffic already. And the costs of this stunt were immediately obvious, as trucks sat idle for hours on the Mexican side of the border, in some cases with their produce wilting.
Direct costs to Texas were estimated at $4.2 billion, according to an analysis by the Perryman Group. And those are just the costs that can be readily quantified: Mexico this week announced that a new rail line that its building will connect with New Mexico rather than Texas, citing Abbotts border shutdown as the reason.
Furthermore, a number of the 10,000 men and women deployed to the border or otherwise providing support to the operation have reported issues with morale, housing, or even with being paid on time.
All of which raises the question of why were sending service members to the border an extremely dangerous place, to hear Republicans tell it with so little consideration and without even basic safety devices. As Morales noted, water rescues are a regular occurrence along the river, as are accidental drownings.
The most plausible answer to that overarching question sadly, outrageously is that Operation Lone Star is a political operation designed to highlight President Joe Bidens weaknesses and raise Abbotts national profile.
A similar case could be made about Abbotts brief, ludicrous border shutdown last month, which began when he announced that Texas Department of Public Safety officers would be conducting their own inspections of every commercial vehicle traveling north through the states ports of entry.
These were redundant inspections. The federal government, via Customs and Border Protection, inspects northbound truck traffic already. And the costs of this stunt were immediately obvious, as trucks sat idle for hours on the Mexican side of the border, in some cases with their produce wilting.
Direct costs to Texas were estimated at $4.2 billion, according to an analysis by the Perryman Group. And those are just the costs that can be readily quantified: Mexico this week announced that a new rail line that its building will connect with New Mexico rather than Texas, citing Abbotts border shutdown as the reason.
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Abbott's political theater at the border has outlived any usefulness and is taking a toll on Texas (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
May 2022
OP
I noticed that the produce that I bought from HEB about two weeks ago was past its peak.
TexasTowelie
May 2022
#2
"In Texas, you see Greg Abbott trying to mimic Donald Trump's behavior,"
LetMyPeopleVote
May 2022
#3
SoCalDavidS
(10,498 posts)1. That's The Leadership TX Votes For
I won't hold my breath that they're going to vote any differently this November. Gotta own those Libs.
TexasTowelie
(116,556 posts)2. I noticed that the produce that I bought from HEB about two weeks ago was past its peak.
I went grocery shopping today and the quality of produce improved.
LetMyPeopleVote
(154,112 posts)3. "In Texas, you see Greg Abbott trying to mimic Donald Trump's behavior,"