TEXAS:...Uh, What Effin' Sovereign State???...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Again, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is crowing about his "sovereign" state. He'd been quiet of late, but an opinion piece he is said to have written has been published by the New York Post. In it, Republican Abbott claims he is defending the border against migrants crossing over from Mexico by way of his so-called "state sovereign rights".

We say: What fuckin' state sovereign rights?

Texas, at last check, is a member of the United States and, as such, bows to the federal government on most aspects of domestic and international relations.

Abbott wrote this in an editorial published in today's edition of the New York Post: Biden is clearly more concerned with preventing Texas from protecting our sovereignty than stopping transnational criminals from exploiting his border crisis for profit or discouraging migrants from risking their lives to enter America illegally.

Texas needs to secede from the 50-state union to claim sovereignty. Yes, there are "states' rights," but that's something different. Here, when Abbott says Texas is being invaded by unarmed migrants, well, invasion by a foreign country or, say, criminals, would be clear cause for a federal response. Until you see a six-deep line of mad migrants crossing over firing AR-15s, well, it's not really an invasion, at least not a military one that would warrant national action. 

From Wikipedia, on whether Texas is a sovereign state: While Texas has been part of various political entities throughout its history, including 10 years during 1836–1846 as the independent Republic of Texas, the current legal status is as a state of the United States of America.

Abbott's use of the word is merely political, and cheap politics at that.

He should stop saying it, 'cause the feds keep laughing at him. Or, more to the point, he should stop using it to buttress his weird actions along the Rio Grande. Perhaps he picked it up from Mexico's calmer president, who, correctly, has said his "sovereign nation" is opposed to any meddling from the United States.

Sovereign must just sound good for Abbott.

Too bad it holds zero legal standing. If it wanted to, the federal government could fly an F-16 over his buoys and blow them out of the water. Abbott would moan and groan and Rednecks would howl for a civil war, but there is nothing Texas could do about it.

That Abbott says President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is concerned with "preventing Texas from protecting our sovereignty" is wrong. The federal government defends all states against any sort of aggression. Abbott knows this. He also knows that he used millions of dollars from Covid-19 aid given to Texas by the federal government to combat the virus for work on his Border Wall plan, which has failed.

The Texas-Mexico border is still not secured.

Blame lies with the federal government on that, although, well, a few other elements always work themselves into the equation - we are a country of immigrants, we offer asylum and we remain a beacon of freedom (according to our lying high school American History books).

I'm waiting for Abbott's next move.

Surely, he's not going to simply take to writing editorials for conservative newspapers.

Is he?...

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