Hey Joe Biden, Shoot This Mother Down!
Just when you thought the Cold War 2.0 War Fever and the US Propaganda Machine could not get any worse, we have the Chinese Spy balloon Fiasco.
What a great diversion from Sy Hersh’s story that Joe Biden ordered the CIA to blow up the Nordstream pipelines, an illegal act of war. Never mind that pesky Constitution which allocates the war power exclusively to Congress.
And another toxic train derailment that forced evacuation of a small town in Ohio (with a foreign sounding name!). (As the Biden Administration further deregulates the railroad industry).
And how Russia is now on the offense and about to decapitate what’s left of the US/NATO backed proxy Ukrainian military (just as the US and NATO are running out of ammo! Pentagon sure has some great logistics planners and strategists!). It looks like they really will fight to the last Ukrainian (you know, just so we don’t have to fight the Ruskies over here).
Ah, but don’t worry! NJ Governor Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs vulture and Obama Ambassador to Germany, is right on top of things! He just planted the Goldman Sachs Wall Street Flag over Ukraine on behalf of all those orphans!
Or the Pfizer head of R&D who was caught on camera bragging about regulatory capture and how Pfizer was conducting illegal gain of function research in order to anticipate the next COVID strain and thereby maximize multi-billion dollar profits.
And the climate disaster of US fracking LNG exports to Europe.
And the Rage Against The War Machine protest in DC.
US media says there’s nothing to see in any of this, move on.
I spotted these strange spy balloons along the border from Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. One appears to be permanently tethered over Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona.
For those who may be interested in that curious “spy balloon”, it’s actually an “AeroStat” – for details, we repost this January 17, 2018 post:
Radar blimps, helicopters, drones, cameras, & patrols – Trump’s Wall’s Been Built
Visual Vandalism
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spotDon’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot. ~~~ “Big Yellow Taxi” (Joni Mitchell, 1970)
Sorry folks, but Trump’s so called “Border Wall” has been built already.
Paraphrasing Joni Mitchell, they didn’t pave paradise – they just built a police state to patrol it.
I’ve driven and hiked the US – Mexican Border region from Texas through southern Arizona and have been appalled by the pervasive border patrols, the roadside checkpoints – even radar blimps, cameras, helicopters, planes, drones, motion detectors – creating an overwhelming police state presence.
This morning was the last straw. True story, you can’t make this stuff up. Bear with me:
Last night, it dipped into the 20’s – a cold night provides incentives to get up and out early. But at 7 am it’s still dark, so I worry about conflicts between the dog and coyotes and other predators, so wait until sunrise.
As the sun rises, we set out on the usual morning hike – from 2-4 miles -and are thrilled with the canyon grasslands and forest landscape:
We get back and make coffee. As I’m sitting enjoying a hot cup of coffee, basking in the warm sun on my face, I think of the word “mindfulness”.
At exactly that moment, a harsh noise breaks the silence: a police radio. Moments later, a border patrol SUV rolls up.
Fuck that shit. The bastard must have been watching me from the woods.
He’s the 10th border patrol SUV that’s rolled by my remote location in the last 2 days.
I wasn’t there an hour, before I was confronted by and questioned by a border patrol agent.
But it’s not just constant border patrol SUV’s rolling across the landscape.
Take a look at how an “aerostat” blimp poisons the landscape:
A National Park Service display at Coronado Memorial highlights the fact that existing low tech fences seriously impede wildlife migration.
And this high tech police state surveillance wall is not limited to the US Mexico border
I saw a border patrol agent on horseback last July in the Pasayten Wilderness area just south of the Canadian border in the northern Cascades in Washington State. What is border patrol doing in this landscape?:
Ironically,in a rebuke to today’s DHS police state, today I hiked in the spectacular Coronado National Memorial,
The Memorial was established to:
commemorate Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition and the cultural influences of Spanish colonial exploration in the America’s in the 1500’s.
It was a journey of conquest filled with exploration, wonder – and cruelty. Inspired by tales of vast cities of gold, 339 European soldiers and over 1000 Aztec allies embarked on an epic journey through arid deserts and rugged mountains. They encountered rich traditions and brought new technologies. The resulting collision and combination of cultures reverberates today. Read More
Yet the massive border patrol police state in some locations is belied by a total surrender of the border in other locations.
On New Year’s eve, I camped on the Rio Grande river on the border in Lajitas Texas, just north west of Big Bend National Park. Look:
As I sat there, on the Mexican side, a pickup truck rolled up and a Mexican family of about 10 folks jumped out and began a party – loud folk music and lots of laughter.
Moments later, on the US side, a car rolled up and a man and two women got out, luggage in tow.
Simultaneously, the Mexican family carried a small row boat from the back of their pick up truck, rowed across the river, and took the 3 folks across the border in two trips.
Border patrol was nowhere in sight – I guess the golf resorts at Lajitas need maids, cooks and maintenance men.