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Texas Is Spoiling for a Civil War

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Texas Is Spoiling for a Civil War




Politics


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January 30, 2024

As Governor Greg Abbott escalates his border fight with the Biden administration, he is sounding a lot like an old Confederate.

Texas National Guard soldiers stand guard on the banks of the Rio Grande river at Shelby Park on January 12, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas.

(Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

Many Democrats treat the Empire of Texas as an alarming side show. Sure, the state executes the most people in the country; places bounties on those who smuggle pregnant people out of state to receive reproductive care; and uses migrants for target practice—but for many liberals the state is just a sick joke that can be disregarded until Ted Cruz shows up for a football game. Even now, as the state openly repudiates federal laws, the most common refrain from the “always-online” liberal community is “Good: give Texas back to Mexico.” 

That is not the right answer. First of all, Texas doesn’t want to leave, it wants to invade the rest of the United States and remake the country in its own Christofascist image. Moreover, as is typical with these “states’ rights” types, the definition of “freedom” envisaged by the white guys running Texas is one where they are the only ones forever free—and they are allowed to subjugate women and people of color in their grabbable areas. But most important, allowing a state like Texas to thumb its nose at human rights and federal authority does nothing but give aid and comfort to other would-be rebel states to do the same.

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Texas is not a side show, it is ground zero in the battle to reassert state’s rights over individual rights and the federal government. And, with the help of Republican judges and a Democratic administration that still seems beholden to a rulebook Texas is eager to torch, Texas is more or less winning the first battle in this Civil War reenactment.  

The flashpoint for this crisis is, of course, the border. I have written before about the crossing at Eagle Pass, Texas, a place along the Rio Grande where it is popular for immigrants to make the crossing. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has erected a series of sadistic obstructions across this part of the river—including buoys ringed with razor wire and underwater traps—meant to maim and even drown people trying to swim across the river. Should people, and their children, survive Abbott’s gauntlet, Texas officials on the other side have been accused of pushing them back into the river, or denying the survivors medical aid or even water. 

In response to this murder-barrier, which is in clear violation of both federal law and international human rights laws, US Attorney General Merrick Garland… filed a lawsuit. Because when a rebel force erects a literal death trap on federal lands, the right answer is to use the slow and plodding legal process instead of sending, I don’t know, a Zumwalt-class naval destroyer into the river to clear the obstructions. The lawsuit is still pending while people drown, of course. 

Lawsuits do have some effect on restraining Texas’s actions. Governor Abbott recently admitted: “The only thing that we’re not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border, because of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder.” So, good job “murder laws,” way to make murderers think twice before murdering people. Nonetheless, Garland’s lawsuit did not compel Texas to tear down its medieval fortifications. 

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Eventually, the Biden administration did send federal border patrol agents to Texas to monitor and provide humanitarian aid to the people Abbott would let die. In response, Abbott erected another razor wire fence, this time to keep the federal agents away from the river and prevent them from helping. 

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Again, instead of cutting through the razor wire and arresting the people trying to obstruct the federal government, the Biden administration sued. I’m going to say this part really slowly for the MAGA “tourists”: preventing federal officials from carrying out their duties is a crime. 

The federal government has nearly unfettered authority to make national immigration policy, and even if you’ve watched too much Fox News to believe that, it certainly has total constitutional authority to patrol the nation’s borders. Lawyers for Texas argued, however, that the government’s authority does not extend to repurposing private dwellings to enact its policies, and that’s true. But putting up a fence to block access to an international waterway does not convert the Rio freaking Grande into a private dwelling. 

The Supreme Court heard this case on emergency appeal—and last week it ruled in favor of the Biden administration. But, shockingly, the vote was only 5-4, with justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and alleged attempted rapist Brett Kavanaugh all dissenting without comment. (It might have been interesting if they did; we might have gotten the first judicial comment about the Third Amendment—which prohibits forcing private individuals to provide for federal troops—that anybody can remember.) 

Despite the legal loss, Abbott was undeterred. Perhaps inspired by the fact that there appears to be at least four justices willing to defend Texas’s right to go to war with the federal government, Abbott issued a lengthy statement claiming that Texas is under foreign “invasion” (from desperate migrants who are too exhausted to stand after their ordeal); that the Biden administration has failed in its federal duty to protect Texas from invasion; and thus Texas has the authority to “defend itself” through any means. Abbott says Texas has a right to “stand its ground”—and we should all know by now that “stand your ground” is white people code for “kill brown people who bother us.” If that argument sounds totally detached from any reasonable code of laws, that’s because it is, but it should also sound familiar. Abbott and Texas has already made this exact same argument in defense of its recent “show me your papers”-style racial profiling bill, which allows Texas to arrest any undocumented immigrant—or any suspected undocumented immigrant, whatever the hell that means—and jail them or deport them back to Mexico, even if they’re not Mexican. 

This ridiculous “invasion” rhetoric is being parroted by red-state governors across the country. South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, for instance, has said she is willing to send her state’s own troops to help Texas “secure the border.” Yes, red-state governors are threatening to send troops to Texas to fight federal agents. 

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Liberals online dunked on Fox News because, after a New York jury announced that Trump owed E. Jean Carroll an additional $83 million for defaming her, Fox quickly cut away from the verdict to return to its ongoing “border crisis” coverage. It looked like Fox was doing its usual thing of distracting from the legal woes of their Lord and Savior with more fear mongering and fake news about immigration. To be clear, the network was certainly doing some of that. But we are in a situation where there is a state in open rebellion against both federal law and a Supreme Court order, and they’ve got guns. 

The white-wing media complex is simply giddy about the prospect of defeating federal agents trying to enforce the law, while the left is devoting a lot of time to defending Taylor Swift. Don’t get me wrong, Swift seems like a really cool lady, and I hope that she and Kansas City Cultural Appropriations tight-end Travis Kelce have found true and everlasting love, but Texas is leading a revolt against the federal government, as it continues to harm immigrants, while the Biden administration waits for the refs to throw a flag. 

People will say Texas is merely “causing a constitutional crisis” as opposed to spoiling for civil war. But that is the wrong frame. There is no “constitutional” crisis here, because there is nothing up for reasonable interpretation. Texas is violating the Constitution, as well as a court order, and it’s doing so in order to continue to hurt desperate people. The state is literally blocking humanitarian aid to people it deems disposable, effectively trying to shove them underneath the waves before the federal government can throw them a life raft. This is not a legal crisis: this is a rebellion against federal authority and the basic human decency that it’s trying to provide.    

If President Biden will not enforce federal laws in Texas, nobody will. In this case, enforcing those laws requires not just breaking down the razor wire defenses and deconstructing the Eagle Pass barrier but also arresting the people who obstruct federal agents performing their duties. If Governor Abbott tries to further obstruct the operations of the federal government and continues to violate the Supreme Court’s order, he should be arrested for treason. And if all that seems aggressive and likely to escalate the conflict, I’d simply point out that appeasement never works, and Texas has already taken the aggressive step of violating court orders in order to harm as many migrants as it can, all while Biden and Garland impotently shout “hey pal, that’s not fair” as dead bodies float on by. 

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Does Biden have the stomach to fight this? Abbott is betting that he doesn’t. It’s the same bet John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee made about Abraham Lincoln: they didn’t think they could “win” the Civil War, they thought the Union wouldn’t have the will to stop them. 

The Confederates were wrong about Lincoln. The Republicans may be right about Biden. 

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Elie Mystal



Elie Mystal is The Nation’s justice correspondent and the host of its legal podcast, Contempt of Court. He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. His first book is the New York Times bestseller Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, published by The New Press. Elie can be followed @ElieNYC.

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Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider

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Texas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider


fatmata janneh lady vols basketball
Photo via Texas A&M Athletics

Lady Vols basketball is looking to add more pieces to its 2026-27 roster with high-level experience. After completing her junior season at Texas A&M, Fatmata Janneh has emerged as a Tennessee target for her final year of eligibility. According to her Instagram story on Sunday night, she is in Knoxville.

With the Aggies a year ago, the 6-foot-2 forward averaged 11.4 points per game on 43.3% shooting from the field. She also showed off an ability to hit from range, posting 1.1 makes per game on 33% shooting from three.

Perhaps Janneh’s biggest strength is her rebounding, though. She ripped down 9.7 boards per contest, good for the fifth-most in the SEC. This featured 2.6 rebounds on the offensive end per outing.

Janneh also averaged 1.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.4 blocks per game. She appeared in 27 games, starting in each.

More From RTI: How Watching The NCAA Tournament Drew Terrence Hill Jr. To Tennessee Basketball

Janneh started her career with a pair of seasons at St. Peter’s. As a sophomore, she averaged a double-double, posting 18.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. This made her a sought-after transfer in the portal before landing at Texas A&M as the nation’s leading defensive rebounder. As a freshman, she averaged 11.0 points and 8.0 rebounds.

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The forward is from London, England, attending Barking Abbey Sixth Form for her prep ball. She would be the second player from England to join the Tennessee roster if she committed. UT also added the commitment of incoming freshman and former Boston College signee Irene Oboavwoduo this offseason.

So far, Caldwell and the Lady Vols have landed five transfers in this portal cycle. This features Liberty guard Avery Mills, Northern Arizona guard Naomi White, Stanford forward Harper Peterson and Georgia forward Zhen Craft and guard Rylie Theuerkauf.

Tennessee will also roster a pair of incoming freshmen. Four-star recruit and top-50 prospect Gabby Minus is staying true to her signing despite the roster overhaul and assistant coaching changes, along with the addition of Oboavwoduo.





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Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says

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Texas needs at least 4 billion to avoid water crisis, state says


AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.

The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said. 

The board’s latest estimates come as the state’s water supply faces numerous threats. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. This week, Corpus Christi officials said the city may be just months away from declaring a water emergency. Meanwhile, other rural cities by the Coastal Bend are rapidly drilling wells to avoid a crisis. Residents in North Texas have also been bracing for groundwater shortages.

In an effort to restrain the crisis, lawmakers last year called an election in which voters approved a $20 billion boost for communities to use on water-related expenses. The water development board’s estimate shows that what lawmakers proposed on the ballot falls dramatically short of the needed cash, experts said.

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“What this number tells me at the end of the day is if we don’t get serious about (funding water projects), there are going to be serious consequences for Texas,” said Perry Fowler, executive director of the Texas Water Infrastructure Network. “Even with the billion-dollar-a-year plan kicking in, it’s not going to be enough to offset the costs of the projects that are going to have to be executed.”

The new estimate accounts for 3,000 projects, from regional infrastructure upgrades to smaller endeavors such as drilling new water wells. Texas’ water supplies are expected to drop by roughly 10% between 2030 and 2080, according to the water plan. In that same time frame, the maximum amount of water communities can draw is also expected to decline by 9%.

The 80-page plan notes approximately 6,700 recommended strategies that would add water to the state’s dwindling portfolio. The recommendations — which are not accounted for in the cost — include developing new supplies from aquifer storage and recovery, brackish groundwater, desalination and recycled water. It also calls for water conservation.

The report suggested that if Texas does not implement the plans and recommendations, the state is one severe drought away from an estimated $91 billion in economic damages in 2030.

The state’s plan attributes a variety of reasons for the bigger price tag, such as higher costs of construction due to inflation, impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and a growing backlog of water supply projects.

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“There’s a plan that can meet our needs,” said Matt Nelson, deputy executive administrator for the Office of Planning at the water development board, adding that they take their cues from the regional planning groups. “These are local projects that folks need to implement; they’re needed regardless of how they’re funded. It’s important to remember these are not top-down projects or state projects.”

Experts told The Texas Tribune that the board’s estimate is only a fraction of what Texas communities will need to ensure they have water in 50 years’ time, saying growth and development are outpacing the state’s ability to keep up.

“This is a bigger water plan in terms of volume strategies and capital costs compared to anything we’ve ever seen before,” said Jeremy Mazur, the director of infrastructure and natural resources policy at think tank Texas 2036.

Mazur suggested that the $174 billion only covers water supply projects and does not account for updating aging infrastructure, adding that the actual price could amount to a quarter of a trillion dollars.

“There’s a substantial magnitude with regard to the capital investment needed to both fix our aging and current systems and potentially develop the water infrastructure, water supply projects that we need.“

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The report largely confirmed what many water experts have warned regarding threats to the state’s water supply, said Sarah Kirkle, director of policy at the Texas Water Association.

“Population growth, extreme weather, and economic development needs are all increasing demands on our infrastructure, and the state is going to need more water, sooner,” Kirkle said. “This is all while water projects are becoming more costly and complex because the easiest and cheapest local projects have already been developed.”

Fowler, with the infrastructure network, said he expects the Texas Legislature to take up the issue next year, when lawmakers meet for the 90th legislative session. He said the state should take a bigger role in ensuring that communities can afford their respective water projects.

“It’s going to have to be a top-down priority, there’s no way around it,” he said. “The challenges are so immense that it’s going to take all hands on deck.”

Texas residents have until the end of May to comment on the proposal. Water development board officials must adopt it by January 2027.

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Alejandra Martinez contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.



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Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say

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Co‑worker confesses to killing missing North Texas man and stealing his car, police say



A North Texas man reported missing earlier this week was found dead Friday, and police say a co‑worker has confessed to fatally shooting him and stealing his car.

The suspect, Gregory D. Lewis, 34, remains in custody and faces a forthcoming capital murder charge, according to the Fort Worth Police Department. 

Lewis is accused of killing 31‑year‑old Thomas King, who had been last seen in his Taco Casa work uniform. King was reported missing on Tuesday after failing to return home Monday from the fast‑food restaurant in the 1100 block of Bridgewood Drive.

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Car found at Arlington motel 

Police said King’s car was found at the Quality Inn on I‑20 in Arlington, and surveillance video showed Lewis arriving in King’s vehicle shortly after King left work. 

Detectives identified the man in the video and arrested him on unrelated charges.

  Gregory D. Lewis, 34

Tarrant County Jail

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Body discovered on Fort Worth’s East Side 

King’s body was located on Friday in an open field on Fort Worth’s East Side, authorities said. 

According to police, Lewis confessed to shooting the victim and stealing his car. 

Medical examiner review pending 

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. 

CBS News Texas has reached out to Taco Casa for comment.

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