Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 04/16/18> One last thing before we move on…. AGUA.
Last week I started in on the subject of weather modification and solar radiation management(SRM) and in Thursday’s daily dose I told you that I would get back on it with today’s, but that isn’t going to happen though, not today anyway.
I had my plate pretty full for Friday, Saturday & Sunday’s daily dose columns. In case you missed them I did Friday on the Mercadome Market for the #marketfridays thing that @dswigle does weekly. Saturday was devoted to taking care of selecting and paying the winners in my sign photo contest that I conducted. There were a lot of really cool signs that were submitted and deciding the winners wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. In the end though I think everyone who entered would have to admit it was probably the easiest contest they ever entered on here, and everyone got a least a couple nickels of steem. The 15th is always the “Will Eat BBQ 4 U” segment, and it was again this month, in Padre Island, Texas.
There are two main roads that run north and south out of the RGV for the east and central sections of the valley. US Hwy 77 runs north from Brownsville and US Hwy 281 runs north from the McAllen area. Seeing that these two roads are basically it for north / south travel there are US Federal Border Patrol Check Stations on these roads about 75 miles north of the border of Mexico and the USA.
To get to the valley from the Houston area I travel south on US HWY 59 to HWY 77 and at Riviera, TX I head west on HWY 285. From Riviera to Falfurious, TX on HWY 285 is right at 40 miles or so which is where I pick up HWY 281 and continue south. Monday afternoon as I was travelling across Hwy 285 I had gone about 5 miles when I noticed a blue 55 gallon drum on the south side of the road and it had a piece of pipe attached to it and a white flag at the top of the pipe.
There has been a lot of construction on HWY 285 in the last couple of years adding passing lanes; it is a two lane highway for the most part, so I thought it might have been something to do with the construction. Travelling along at 70 MPH doesn’t leave much time for looking at things.
The next one I was ready for, I pretty much had figured out the spacing by now, so I slowed down to 40 MPH since there wasn’t a car in sight in my mirrors and about another half a mile there was another barrel & flag. I pulled off on the shoulder, put my emergency flasher on and shut off the truck, I also locked it as a precaution. With my phone in hand I crossed the road and walked over to the blue 55 gallon drum. The lid was attached but not covering the top of the drum so I looked down into it.
I don’t know what group or groups of people are responsible for placing these barrels along the roadside in this act of compassion. I also found myself contemplating this situation my entire trip while I was in the valley.
I believe there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things, but right or wrong in who’s eyes is the question? Twenty years ago I would have answered that question by saying the government’s eyes. A lot can happen in twenty years and it sure has, I have come to the realization that what we have for a government is nothing more than a bunch of over bearing power hungry folks who are in it for themselves and not necessarily for the people they represent, this pretty much goes for all levels of government including the local levels.
It is less than 10 years since I have started on my transformation from a sheeple to one of “we the people” who are for a government that is by and for the people. When I look at those blue barrels I see desperation, just how bad is it where these people are coming from that they would leave their home land and trek thousands of miles with only the clothes on their backs and maybe a small satchel of food and water at the most?
For the most part of my adult life I have been against illegal immigration because I only looked at it from a governmental side of view. When I worked on ranches and in contracting I worked with a lot of people who were here illegally, and for the most part they were good folks. Sure there are some bad apples making their way across the border, and the drug cartels are using these folks as drug mules in some cases, but that just speaks to the desperation of these people even more.
The vast area between Hwy 77 and Hwy 281 is all ranch land, some of it is improved pasture land but the majority is scrub brush, mesquite trees and cactus plants. Finding your way through this terrain is not easy and when you throw in all the snakes and wild animals it can’t be an easy trip at all, plus you have to play hide and seek with the border patrol agents so that means having to do a lot of travel in the pitch dark or by the moon light. The summer heat can surely put these people at risk of dehydration and death so I commend the people who are placing the barrels and keeping them stocked with water. Twenty years ago I might have said those people should be arrested, for helping a criminal as in “aiding and abetting “ but I am a changed person now.
There is a higher power that we ultimately have to answer too, or at least I believe there is, and it is not the government.
If I lived in the area down there I might just be helping place the barrels, but I don’t. The next trip down that way I do make I will have some extra cases of water in the back of my truck and I will stock some of the barrels now that I know where they are.
All told there were about twenty barrels that I came across on this trip, so ten cases of water will be my goal to take with me, and throw a dozen bottles in each barrel I come across. That will be my plan, I never thought I would have changed as much as I have but I guess we really do get older and wiser as time goes on.
What do you think about the situation with illegal immigration?
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
ALL PHOTOS ARE PROPERTY OF @sultnpapper
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Thank you so much. Why it would be in there makes no sense to me but if you say so.
Oops! wrong text. I hope yours is the only one. Gimme a minute and I'll fix it.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
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Years ago, I most likely felt as you did, the governments point of view (narrow-minded and selfish). I no longer think that way after spending almost two decades living in third world countries. If you want to know someone, walk a mile in his shoes (or sandals). Immigration to any country has become a nightmare of rules and regulations. There is no room for compassion. So folks do what they feel they have to do for their families. Is it wrong? To me, it is a very grey area...
I think if they can get across the border that we should have closed decades ago then the problem is with us, and we should let them stay if they are not a fugitive or a convict. We have enough of those already and are raising more everyday. Chances are that isn't going to happen, so maybe the churches can start a program to help them file for asylum or something along those lines.
I really don't know what the answer is, but the desperation is really apparent given what they do to try and get here.
That is such a nice gesture, and it really helps visualize the situation for such folks that previously was just in my imagination. As you might guess, I am not for such strict immigration policy and actually to me it's a little bizarre given that we have such a large dependence on them. I think there are plenty of people for doing things the right way in terms of establishing some sort of legal status so they aren't all bucketed into the illegal immigration framework and having families ruined by overly broad policy. But... I'm not too familiar with all the details so this is really all just guesswork on my end.
I have mixed emotions on this subject but there has to be real serious issues where these people are coming from that would cause them to risk their lives to come here with nothing and knowing that they would be subject to deportation.
It is a nice gesture on the part of whom ever is doing it. While I was in the valley I discussed seeing these barrels with a friend of mine and he told me that he saw a report on television of a similar situation over in Arizona but the US Border Patrol agents were filmed opening and pouring out the bottles of water. That sparked an out cry from the people in southern Arizona according to my friend.
Many years ago some of the local councils went to similar lengths to prevent squatting. If done right, squatting was legal in England. The council would send crews to the empty properties to smash the toilets and water pipes. Some of these houses were scheduled for demolition - a year or more down the line.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
I think that squatting is actually legal here in Texas, but it isn't done very often, I read about a case up in the Dallas area last year on a house in a Dallas suburb where a guy was squatting to gain control of the house.
This is such a lovely project, and I'm really glad to see such compassion. I am way out there on the issue of immigration (and most issues in general, frankly), in that I support the idea of opening our borders. I think undocumented immigrants are often leaving very harsh situations, and sometimes those situations are the legacy of colonization or the meddling of our own government—how many governments have we intentionally sabotaged in order to gain access to resources? I also think with the wealth and power we have as a nation, it ought to be our responsibility to care for vulnerable people in the world. Because we can. (Some of those vulnerable people were born here, but that's a topic for another time.)
Not the most popular opinion, in the current political climate, but it's what I believe. shrug
I don't know that I am for opening our borders completely but there has to be a way that we can help these people who's situation is so desperate that they risk their lives to come here, knowing if they get caught the chances are they will get sent right back from where they came.
I agree that we may very well be the cause of the situation in their countries by things our government has done to disrupt their normalcy in their home countries.
I don't know how you can say that we as a country have wealth? That is an illusion in my opinion, if we truly were wealthy we would not have over $23 trillion in government debt. What we have is the rest of the world has allowed us to swindle them by using the US dollar as the world reserve currency and making it where all oil transactions are conducted in US dollars, all the while we just keep printing more worthless paper dollars. We do have power though, there isn't a war that we won't find a way to get involved with in some way, shape or form so that we can be the big bully and create the fear that other countries have of us.
If it sounds like I am not happy with our government that is because I am not happy with it. I wish more people would wake up and realize what is really going on here in this country.
Mine may not be the popular opinion either, but is an informed opinion by actually studying history and not taking what I was taught as history as being correct and true. The congressional records of congress has the truth in them, more people just need to read them.
Thanks for stopping in and sharing your observations.
Perhaps the wealth of the nation is illusory, but even the perception that we have wealth lends us power and weight on the global stage.
And I absolutely support reading about the past and the records of our own government, because there are some things that never become common knowledge that ought to, and not knowing the details leaves us woefully disconnected from the decisions made that affect our daily lives, and those of people all over the world. (There's that global power again—it's wielded on our behalf, and we really ought to pay more attention to it.)
I agree , we are never to old to learn, maybe to lazy or to complacent, but never to old. I address a lot of the issues I've discovered in this daily dose column on a pretty regular basis. If only one person has the eyes opened and starts searching it will not have been wasted effort in my opinion, we all need to do are part and being educated about our government is paramount.
Enjoyed your story. It is wonderful to see compassion shown for people in such desperate situations. I live in Canada and there were stories of illegal entries where people frozen their fingers off while walking into Canada through Alberta.
Yes, and if there were more countries farther north of Canada there might be many more stories of frost bite casualties of immigrants crossing borders. I don't know which would be worse, freezing to death, or dying of thirst but either way it would all end in the same way, death.
More compassion is needed for sure. Thanks for weighing in on this.
I would have done exactly the same. Borders are established by war and conquest - they are about power.
I think situations that result in illegal immigration are deliberately fostered, because it allows unscrupulous businesses to get away with paying their employees less than the minimum wage and denying them the labour conditions that would otherwise be necessary. The threat of exposure makes illegal immigrants easy prey to such abuses.
I agree that borders are established by war and conquest and power comes with that. I don't know that the situations that result in illegal immigration are deliberately fostered on behalf of the businesses that end up hiring illegals. There is plenty of illegal immigration in several countries that the people have been uprooted from their home country because of political differences and such.
I can't speak to any situation other than what I see here in Texas, and I see it every day in the industry I work in. First let me say that it is a myth that these illegals are paid less than the minimum wage.
I'll start with what are known as "day laborers". These people hang out at local spots and wait for someone needing laborers to show up and pick them up and take them to a job site to do usually manual labor, digging ditches, building fences, clearing debris and things like that. They work by the day and most days will end up being about 10 to 11 hours of work, that includes the time to drive to the job and also to drop them back off where you picked them up. They do not have their own transportation, when you hire them they will also require that you provide them lunch, it may only be a hamburger meal or three tacos from the taco truck but you will feed them. They also won't work for less than $100 for the day, in some areas of Texas, like Austin, the going rate is $125- $135 a day plus lunch. When you break it down by the hour that is well above the $7.75 minimum hourly wage the government requires businesses to pay.
There are no taxes taken out and it is paid at the end of the day when they get dropped back off.
The illegals have even gone as far as to group themselves in 3 or 5 man crews where you can't just hire one laborer, even if that is all you need. They won't split up and would rather go back home and not work then run the risk of being separated in case something were to happen. The groups will sometimes allow a little room for negotiation but you aren't getting them for less than $100 per person.
The other group is the steady work illegal, these people are illegal but give a fake social security number in order to make it where the employer has a number to withhold payroll taxes and apply it too. The employer knows it isn't their number but as far as he's concerned he did his part and had them fill out the paper work and taxes are withheld. These people end up working in the same conditions and under the same laws and regulations that anyone born here works under, the only thing is that these folks will never file a tax return or see any social security even though they have paid into the system.
I know one illegal that works for a landscaping company mowing lawns. He has worked there for eight years, each year he leaves and goes back to Mexico the second week of December and then he returns between the third week of January and the middle of February, it just depends on how long it takes to get back across the border and back up to Houston. Each year he will give his employer a different name and social security number for the paperwork. The employer pays them with a check, which they sign endorse and then he trades them cash for the endorsed check, he doesn't charge them a fee. They can take their check to the local convenient store and cash it, but they will pay a 2% check cashing fee.
Don't get wrong, I'm not saying it is a great life for the illegals, it is not, but it is a far cry from how bad people make it sound and how the illegals are being exploited at every turn, because it isn't happening, at least not here in Texas.
The biggest risk the illegals face is deportation, but those who have been here and back home and then back here know it is not the end of the world for them. They just start the trek all over once they get placed back at the border.
It may be different in other states but I can tell you this is the way it is here and that is from first hand knowledge.
I do feel for them, the illegals, because of the terrain they have to traverse to make it to where they can get picked up by friends or family and the blue barrels just reinforce how treacherous the trip can be.
Fantastic - good on them! I've heard of a few instances where illegal immigrants in the UK had suffered exploitation, although the same could be said for many "legal" workers here too!
My father came from the Bahamas - although when he came to the UK, in 1948, it was still a British colony and he had a British passport, so there were no issues about moving here. He came to study, and was planning to return, but then he met my mum...
I mention this because shortly after he arrived, there was a large influx of immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK, a policy that was encouraged by the UK government at the time because there was a demand for cheap labour. There is currently a big row going on in the UK because many of the immigrants who arrived at this time did not receive valid documentation, and are now being denied healthcare in their old age because they are seen as illegal immigrants - despite the fact that they've been working here and paying taxes since the 1960s and 70s.
Some of them have probably been returning regularly to the Caribbean over the years, just as you describe with the Mexican immigrants - but they have still spent years fulfilling the UK's demand for bus drivers, cleaners and hospital staff etc in the productive cities of London and Birmingham.
And the reason they were in countries like Jamaica in the first place is because the British empire needed a lot of slave labour to build up its sugar industry in the 18th and 19th centuries! So it's not surprising that there's a big row about this that has resulted in the resignation of a government minister, when people who worked for the UK for decades and whose ancestors sweated and toiled to build up the British Empire are being labelled as illegal immigrants and denied healthcare.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has 'softened' on immigration and, more importantly, the immigrants. Fact is, I have softened significantly.
I helped half dozen or so guys get their papers during the Reagan amnesty program. All of them ended up being tax paying citizens of this country and we are better off with them here.
I think it's the desperation that drives me to 'turn a blind eye'. It's literally life or death for some of these folks.
The water containers are relatively scarce here. The 'posse' routinely trashes and confiscates them. Pretty sad.
Another vote for Mexican Coke. It IS better.
Thanks for another great column.
I never helped any get their papers but I have customers who are contractors that have helped plenty of their employees get legal in order to help both of them. The immigrants seem to be a pretty loyal bunch of people, or at least a lot of them that I have known.
No doubt on the MexiCoke being better.
Thank you for stopping in and visiting.
Borders are a moral crime. Immigration should not be, full stop. I agree there are bad people coming here, but that is a criminal issue, not a social one. Actually, I take that back. Legalising drugs is a social issue that will eliminate a huge chunk of crime. In addition, it may possibly improve the standard of living in the countries our illegals come from.
JFK said "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." I have always maintained that Tricky Dicky would have said "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what your country can do for me." The rot may have started there.
"There is a higher power that we ultimately have to answer too, or at least I believe there is, and it is not the government." I don't know who your higher power is. I'm not even sure who mine is. If there is only one thing we can agree on totally, it is that it sure ain't the government.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Right now my higher power I answer to is my conscious, and it may be the same higher power that we answer too when this life is over, I don't know for certain.
The big problem right now is that going against the government rule will a lot of time will end up getting you severely injured or killed because of the armed policy enforcers otherwise known as "police".
They have gotten to the point of shoot first and ask questions later. There are so many cases of people being killed by police for having a cell phone in their hand, if the cops can't tell a cell phone from a gun they probably should only be given a cell phone. That way when they shoot someone they would only have a picture as evidence.
Drug legalization won't happen anytime soon, big pharma would lose to much money on their dope sales if it was a "free market" situation. The politicians get to much money in the form of "donations" from the drug companies for full legalization to take place.
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