He’s been re-elected, so continuing the discussion from Screw Greg Abbott:
Three days after Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted a legally dubious invocation of the “invasion clause” of the U.S. and Texas constitutions over the high number of migrant encounters at the Texas-Mexico border, his border mission is set to include armored personnel carriers designed to carry troops into battle alongside tanks, according to a planning document obtained by Army Times and The Texas Tribune.
The order issued Thursday by Texas Military Department officials to the headquarters overseeing Operation Lone Star reveals that the National Guard will soon deploy 10 M113 armored personnel carrier vehicles to the border.
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It’s not clear why the Texas Military Department plans to deploy the vehicles to the border. Since Operation Lone Star began, the agency has not publicly acknowledged any incidents in which the protection provided by the more nimble Humvee vehicles deployed there was inadequate.
The move didn’t surprise Fernando García, the executive director and founder of the Border Network for Human Rights, who said Abbott is “trying to justify the narrative of the invasion” by casting asylum seekers and migrants seeking opportunities as violent criminals.
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Abbott continues to prove what a giant asshole he is.
Discussions about gender identity in schools are a likely target for the upcoming legislative session as Gov. Greg Abbott alluded to his support for stopping what he called “indoctrination.”
The Republican governor on Sunday tweeted a link to a Fox News article about a Fort Worth teacher who reportedly came out to students and staff as nonbinary and discussed it with the middle schoolers.
Abbott responded that lawmakers will “put a stop to this nonsense” during the session that starts Jan. 10.
“Schools must get back to fundamentals & stop pushing woke agendas,” he wrote. “We will pass laws to get it done.”
It’s absurd; a M113 is a 1950s-era armored personnel carrier that at most, carries a single machine gun, and is designed for about 10 troops to ride in the back. I’m honestly surprised any are still in service in the US, even with the National Guard.
The Texas National Guard would be better off with Humvees for just about any sort of actual border patrolling- they’re faster, more fuel efficient, easier to repair/less maintenance intensive, and so forth.
The only reason I can think of using them for this would be to intimidate people and/or look harsh in the news media.