WTF 1/24/2024

Things about we the people that scare me…

According to surveys conducted at YouGov.com* these are things that we the people in the United States believe…  

20% believe that the U.S. government is using COVID-19 vaccines to microchip people…

20% of we the people believe the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks…  

20% of U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 through 29 believe the Holocaust was a myth…

An amazing 41% believe that regardless of who is officially in charge of the government and other organizations that there is a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world…  

And the following percentages of we the people believe it is either definitely or probably true:

31% that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. …  

28% that voting machines were programmed to change votes in the 2020 election…

29% that many top Democrats are involved in child sex-trafficking rings… while curiously 25% believe many top Republicans are involved in child sex-trafficking rings…

23% that mass shootings have been faked by groups trying to promote stricter gun control laws…

18% that the 1969 landing on the moon didn’t occur and was actually staged somewhere in Arizona…

And just to refine these statistical percentages a bit, YouGov reports that their surveys show Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe most of the theories asked about, with especially large partisan gaps for claims relating to voting machines in the 2020 election (53% of Republicans believe it is definitely or probably true compared to 13% of Democrats) and Obama’s birthplace (54% vs. 15%)… while… two in five Republicans (42%) believe it’s definitely or probably true that many top Democrats are involved in child sex-trafficking rings; just 14% of Democrats agree. As for top Republicans’ involvement in child sex-trafficking, it switches around to 14% of Republicans say they believe it compared to 28% of Democrats, although it appears there are a lot less bat shit crazy opinionated conspiracy theorist folks among the Dems than there are among the Repubs when it comes to whether the opposition party is involved in the sex trafficking of children.  

In my opinion this is all, without a doubt, very scary shit, indeed…   

Knowing this about what in general we the people are thinking…

Is it any wonder that a lying ass fascist such as Donald Trump is polling the numbers he is currently recording or that he garnered as many votes in the two presidential elections that he was involved in?

*YouGov is one of the world’s leading research companies, with an impressive 6 million members worldwide. They publish a number of syndicated reports, such as the annual Global Survey of Wealth & Affluence, which provide comprehensive market intelligence on a range of industry sectors. The results of their research is frequently featured in the media.

Texas government complicit in migrant deaths… 

I’ll make this kinda short and not so sweet…

Due to repressive and ultra-regressive immigration policies of the State of Texas put forth by Trumpist Governor Greg Abbot U.S. Border Patrol Officers were prevented access to a strip of the Rio Grande by Texas National Guard members that led to the drowning deaths of three migrants, a woman and two children, who were ultimately recovered by Mexican authorities.

Media reports indicated that the Border Patrol…. who officially have authority over immigrants entering into the U.S. over any of the country’s borders… received information that a group of six migrants were in distress while trying to cross the Rio Grande River and that they contacted the Texas Military Department and the Texas National Guard to enter the area to assist these people. The Texas Military Department told Border Patrol that it would not allow federal agents into the area, even in the case of an emergency, but that it would send a soldier to investigate the situation, Cuellar said.

In fact, according to DHS spokesperson Luis Miranda, the Border Patrol agents were responding to a distress call from the Mexican government and were “physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area.”

A further statement from Miranda said, “Tragically, a woman and two children drowned last night in the Shelby Park area of Eagle Pass, which was commandeered by the State of Texas earlier this week.” And Miranda added in the same statement… “The Texas governor’s policies are cruel, dangerous, and inhumane, and Texas’s blatant disregard for federal authority over immigration poses grave risks.”

In a bullshit cover-their-ass comment the Texas Military Department said that after being contacted by Border Patrol about 9 p.m., it “searched the river with lights and night vision goggles,” but that no migrants were found. And then that they halted any search activity after Mexican authorities were seen scouring their side of the river and Border Patrol confirmed the Mexicans did not need help.

Prior to this heinous action by Texas officials and the Texas Military Department that resulted in the three immigrants deaths, Border Patrol agents were being blocked from a 2.5-mile stretch of Rio Grande riverfront by Texas National Guard troops under the order of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbot has told sources that “Texas has the legal authority to control ingress and egress into any geographic location in the state,” and that he has authorized that power to be asserted where his representatives along the border believe it is necessary to be enforced. And under Abbott’s orders those representatives have authorized the Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard officials to put up fencing and razor wire around the various border areas along the Rio Grande including where the three immigrants drowned.

On Friday, after state officials took over took Shelby Park, the border crossing area where thousands of immigrants attempt to come into the U.S. and the drownings occurred, the Biden administration made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. In  their filing the government lawyers said that Texas cannot control Border Patrol’s access to the Rio Grande which is an international boundary under the sole jurisdiction of federal authorities.

That emergency appeal has since been granted by the Court and it remains to be seen how Texas… i.e. Abbott… responds.

Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) has been critical of Gov. Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, a $4 billion campaign that has activated thousands of National Guard troops to posts along the border and has been responsible for erecting fencing and the cruel and deadly razor wire at immigration crossing points along the border.

Castro issued a statement that said, “Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol agents from doing their job and allowed two children to drown in the Rio Grande.” He added, “This is what Operation Lone Star looks like on the ground.”

In my opinion Abbott, his representatives and the Texas Military had no right to take upon themselves to prevent by any means whatsoever (including the use of razor wire) to prevent anyone from crossing into the United States. That jurisdiction and authority is solely under the purview of the U.S. federal government. Abbott and his minions violated U.S. federal law. And as such they are complicit in the deaths of three people due to what I say was by an illegal action that ultimately caused the drownings.

In plainer words…

Abbott and various Texas politicians are at the minimum complicit in negligent homicide…

And at its worst the murder of three innocent people who were simply looking for a better life and instead were welcomed by Texas hospitality at its deadliest and most evil worst.

Another thousand words…