The Featured Image might seem to you an odd choice for this post’s title but I must disagree. Suddenly, on my walks, I see many more American flags displayed—and in places that are new to my eyes, like this one outside a North Park market. Makes me wonder: Are some San Diegans quietly, but affirmatively, expressing their patriotic support for Texas’ standoff with the Federal government?
Under a program called “Operation Lone Star“, Texas seeks to “hold the line to defend the Southern border”. Bolstering that effort, Governor Greg Abbott has mobilized state national guard units as part of a vanguard laying razor wire and blocking U.S. Border Patrol agents from processing immigrants. A Supreme Court ruling favors Federal efforts to cut (and remove) the razor wire. Abbott and his attorney general are defiant.
In a statement that Abbott issued yesterday:
Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’ constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary.
About half the U.S. states support Texas, and some governors are sending law enforcement officers, national guard troops, or other professionals to support the standoff in Eagle Pass, Texas. A Constitutional crisis is now in motion and what feels like an undeclared civil war over sovereignty—states vs Washington.
Joining the fray—or fight, if you prefer: Take Our Border Back Convoy—a “multi-day convoy ending with three rallies in three states on Feb. 3, 2024”. Vehicles are scheduled to head out from Virginia Beach on January 29 and arrive in Eagle Pass on the 3rd. Rallies will also take place in Yuma, Arizona, and San Ysidro, Calif., which is here in San Diego County. Proximity is opportunity to take out the camera and cover the event. We’ll see.
Regardless, I stand with Texas.
I used Leica Q2 to capture the photo, today. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2.2, ISO 100, 1/2000 sec, 28mm; 4:14 p.m. PST. Composed as shot.