News about and pertaining to the United States and its people.
Please read what's functionally the mission statement before posting for the first time. We have a narrower definition of news than you might be accustomed to.
For World News, see the News community.
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
If they could do this around the entire state I'd appreciate it. I never want to accidentally wander into Texas.
But seriously, how unhinged is this dude? How do you convince everybody involved in this that it's actually a good idea? Are the people putting up the fence just as unhinged?
The people who put this up are not paid enough to risk challenging anybody on this. They're not crazy, they just need money to survive. Their bosses, on the other hand... Yeah, I don't know. It's amazing that it can make it through as many hands as it must have and nobody says "Are you sure?" Or maybe they did and they just kept being shut down.
It's so strange to me how anti-authoritarian the rhetoric is in Texas despite having one of the most authoritarian and least democratic governments in the country. The executive branch has so few checks it's ridiculous; not that I'd want most of the dumbasses in state congress to get their way.
The notion of the Texas law man roving around dispensing justice isn't anti-authoritarian, it means they want to be the only authority. Real anti-authoritarians would eliminate hierarchies and restrictions.
True, the Libertarian version of "freedom" which is the freedom to oppress others if you have the power to do so. The rhetoric among Texas conservatives is Reaganesque which is ostensibly in support of a minimal level of government while leaving most things to private interests. The behavior of Texas conservatives in government is to exert governmental power on individuals and allow businesses to do whatever they want to individuals as well.
Reaganesque
Which is interesting considering how many Westerns he starred in.
They're being treaded on and they like it
No see, that's freedom razorwire, those are freedom checkpoints.
"That's why we build the wall, we build the wall to keep us free!"
I bet this will also used to prevent pregnant women from escaping the state
Hmmm, which states allow aborrtion that also border Texas...
Probably just a coincidence 😉
Don't worry, an MS13 member and a school shooter once walked across that border together so it's okay because it's definitely for everyone's safety.
It depends on what the checkpoints are and if they are a drag on interstate commerce. For a while, California had staffed border checkpoints to look for produce that could bring pathogens to the state.
The Commerce Clause isn't absolute.
I guess since they kept getting their asses kicked trying to put one on the Mexico border, they thought this might work. That being said, might this actually also be blatantly illegal, as it impedes free movement between states? The constitution explicitly provides for interstate travel without government abridgement.
not explicitly. the Constitution's Privileges and Immunities clause is written assuming freedom of interstate travel, but the Framers thought the right to travel was so fundamental and obvious it did not need explicit enumeration. the right to travel was enumerated in article 4 of the Articles of Confederation however and the Supreme Court has upheld it several times on that basis
Didn't Texas say last year that they wanted to try being independent from the USA? I'm not from the US (anymore) so I'm not sure but I kind of remember that being said.
Isn't this like testing the waters in some way?
The Texas GOP floats that idea every few years because they're a bunch of whiny piss babies and think being rebellious is cool and edgy
I’ll help them pack. If I could never hear from that fucking state again, I’d be happy.
Maybe Texas and Puerto Rico can swap status. Puerto Rico can become a state in exchange for Texas freeing up the slot, then we don't even need to change any songs or anything.
Its OK. Gawd told him to do it...
So, when will the right wing reactionaries start shrieking about the entire state being a FEMA camp?
I say this a lot, but what the fuck, Texas?
"the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state"
https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/articles-of-confederation
As if most of these migrants won't just get into a getaway car group or even semi truck in New Mexico and cross Texas on I-10.
I appreciate the effort, but...