This is fun:
If Marfa sounds a bit familiar, it might be because of this:
Marfa is a town of 1,800 but it has a thriving art community, and this is an installation at the edge of town. Marfa is near Big Bend, and the song that the mariachi band created for Talarico mentions wanting to take their views away. That’s a reference to the asinine effort to build a border wall on the Rio Grande at Big Bend. A recent Texas Observer piece documents the usual incompetence and stupidity surrounding any Trump project:
As a river guide who’s logged thousands of miles running the Rio Grande, the most polite word I can think of to describe the agency’s vehicle barrier plans is “baffling.” Much of the 17 miles presently marked on the map for vehicle barriers is in Mariscal Canyon, which forms the distinctive bend in the Rio Grande the region is named for. It’s around 80 miles from my house as the crow flies, but it takes around 6-8 hours to get there. There are no roads in Mexico leading anywhere near Mariscal Canyon, and the road that leads into the canyon on the American side is so bad that every time I’ve been out there I’ve brought a shovel for the express purpose of building the road myself.
To spend so much on these barriers—around $2.4 million per annual Border Patrol “apprehension” in the region—is beyond confusing, particularly in a region where both law enforcement and civilians have expressed near-unanimous opposition. Meanwhile, the hundreds of miles of lights that accompany the Trump “smart wall” will threaten the region’s world-famous dark skies, and road construction along the river, where folks have gathered for more than 10,000 years, could wipe out untold historical and archeological riches. And for the more than 400 individual landownersmaking the choice between fighting the federal government and granting contractors unfettered access to their property, it could mean the death of a unique binational, bicultural way of life.
We spent some time in Big Bend a couple of years ago, and I’m here to tell you that there’s no danger of immigrant hordes crossing the Rio Grande and invading the US. The border there is a pretty casual thing — I remember seeing a Mexican vaquero working cattle on his side of the river, casually crossing the Rio Grande and then heading back across. The only Mexican town near Big Bend is Boquillas del Carmen, which exists mainly for tourists to pay $5 each to have someone row them over the Rio Grande from Big Bend to have lunch there.
This artwork featuring AMLO and Biden was on the wall at the restaurant where we ate in Boquillas.
The nearest town of any size to Boquillas is an hour drive away. This is a picture of Santa Elena canyon my wife took from her kayak gives you an idea of the impassibility of the landscape there:
I missed this view because I was coming down with COVID becase West Texas didn’t believe in precautions. Yes, I’m bitter about that.
This is just another MAGA effort to let their MAGAt contractors profit from building a wall that won’t work to stop the very few Mexicans who try to cross the border, but will wreck one of the most beautiful places on earth. But that’s on-brand for the crew that’s ruining our nation.
In other Rio Grande news, this is happening:
What does millions of dollars floating away, literally, toward the Gulf of Mexico look like? Well, last night in Eagle Pass, Texas, we got our answer. Hundreds of massive orange buoys, each weighing approximately a ton, were swept into the Rio Grande shortly before midnight as the river burst its banks due to torrential rains.
As The Border Chronicle previously reported these buoys are part of an extremely dangerous plan by the Department of Homeland Security to place up to 500 miles of floating barriers on the Rio Grande, violating the binational river treaty and without any environmental or safety studies. In the last few months, private contractors including Fisher Sand & Gravel, Spencer Construction and Gibraltar Perimeter Systems have staged thousands of these massive buoys near the riverbanks in Texas border cities including Laredo and Eagle Pass. The approximately 120 buoys that were swept into the Rio Grande last night came from a staging area north of Eagle Pass, according to State Rep. Eddie Morales.
With each buoy weighing a ton, bridge operators shut down Eagle Pass' three international bridges last night fearing damage to bridge pillars in the river as the buoys made impact, leaving border residents stranded on both sides of the river.
More gross incompetence from the gross incompetence administration.
Anyway, enjoy the song.
