Overheard at Table 5: They Comin' to America

"Well, looks like Biden got himself a surge."

"People obviously got the wrong message."

"Now all the Republicans are blaming him for saying 'everyone come on in!'"

"Thing is... he never said that."

"Well, if you tell people who are being raped and killed that you will be treated humanely, then they'll come."

"Ahhhh, that's it!  He should have just said, 'If you come here, we will kill you.'  That would stop it."

"I think that was actually on Stephen Miller's action plan if Trump had won the election."

"I don't doubt it."

Overheard at Booth 3: Notes from a National Emergency Day 80

 Niall raised his shot glass "To Mexican Independence!"

"Jesus!" Lucky said.  "Do I have to explain it to you AGAIN?!"

"Nah," Niall said, tossing back the tequila.  "I just like seeing you go LOW-COH!"

Verble came up to the table and said, "Need I remind you that we are a café and I do not have a liquor license so please stop bringing tequila in here."

Niall, "But ... not even for Mexican Independence?!"

"God help me," Lucky said.

Overheard at Table 1: Notes From National Emergency

 Ok, so now that the national emergency that began on February 15, 2019 has been ended by the new President Joe Biden, I now have an end to the beginning, so there should be nothing standing in my way of taking all the notes that I had for each day and fleshing them out into a complete work.

707 days.  If I put each "notes" on a page, that could almost be the size of a Russian novel (page size, that is, since most of these entries are a mere 280 characters, tops.

I do have to admit that I was beginning to falter near the end.  I had vowed to write one note a day until the Emergency Declaration was ended, but I hadn't really made any entries since mid-November 2020, so I still have almost two months' of new writings to begin.  

However, this does give me a specific timeframe in order to encapsulate the work.  Now I just need to get it done before it becomes a forgotten bit of ancient history ... OOPS!  TOO LATE!

Overheard at Table 2: The SeeSaw

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/seesaw-installation-at-us-mexico-border-wins-design-of-the-year-award

Day 706

 

Some build walls.

Others build see-saws to bridge those walls.

 

True power is in adaption.

from NOTES FROM NATIONAL EMERGENCY

Overheard at Table 1: NFNE

Along the border of Arizona, 29 separate projects are running crews around the clock to destroy a Federally protected natural habitat to build a madman's vanity wall, using money that was not allocated for that purpose.

What's the point of even having a government if it is not going to uphold the laws that itself passed?

2020-1211

Day 666

Overheard at Table 3: Cadejo

 "I'm not really sure about the story line yet," he said, "but I've got the main character.  Her name is Cadejo, and she roams the Mexico/US border looking for coyotes and traffickers ... and kills them.  Frees the kids.  Gets the kids to safe houses.  She leaves water in the desert.  She's no friend of the cartels and she's no friend of the CBP, and she gets into run-ins with both of them.  But she's badass.  Like, super-badass."

Overheard at Table 4: Haiku for Radish Pickers

Picking radishes,

Thick fingers mow through thick leaves.

Ploughed rows in wide field.

MR

2020-0907

For

Notes from a National Emergency

Day 647

2020-1122

Overheard at Table 4: for NFNE

For NFNE

The child knows who took his parents.
The child knows who caged him.
The child knows you hate him.
The child will grow.
And one day, the cage will not be able to hold him.

On that day, that child will come for yours.

for Notes from a National Emergency

Day 646 

2020-1121

Overheard at Booth 2: Oxygen

Notes from a National Emergency
Day 562

He will die next Tuesday, when his daughter will tell them to take him off the machine that oxygenates his blood.

This man whose story started in Nicaragua, to Florida, to Dallas, to Houston.

To this death in the year of COVID.

Overheard at Table 4: The Caravan

Found the caravan that Trump wanted everyone to be so scared of!

Turns out it was already in America all along.

Nope.  It's not a thousand Latinos ... it's a hundred pick-up trucks filled with Trump supporters shooting people and spraying teargas.




https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-30/armed-standoff-in-woodland-hills-after-shots-reportedly-fired-at-trump-car-caravan

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/morning-briefing/biden-accuses-trump-encouraging-violence-u-s-tops-6-million-n1238837

https://www.startribune.com/caravan-of-trump-supporters-rallies-in-oregon-s-biggest-city/572264652/


Day 564
Notes from a National Emergency

Overheard at the Counter: Two Ways to Stop Immigration

I always have said there were only two ways to curb illegal immigration to the US:  either make the source countries into great places to live with stable economies, peace and prosperity for all, and opportunities ... or destroy the US to the point where it is just as miserable as the source countries are now: with authoritarian rulers, a wealthy class that oppresses the poor openly, with rampant poverty and no opportunities for good paying jobs.

I just never imagined we in the US would go all in for option 2!!

Overheard at Booth 1: Photographs on Resumes

Dyani: I sent them my resume.

Kris: Did you take off your picture at the top?

Dyani: No, I left it like it was.

Kris: We're not in Honduras anymore.  Up here, you don't need to have your picture on your resume.

Dyani: I know ... but it still helps.  No matter the country: men are men.

Overheard at Table 4: The Earth Does Not Know Borders

2020-0810
Day 544

The earth does not know borders.
The earth only knows the human feet
that have crossed its dusty deserts, its
high plains, its dense forest.

The earth does not distinguish languages
The earth only sings the cries of those
buried inside it.

A singular cry from infinite voices.


[posted]

The earth does not know borders.
The earth only knows human feet
that have crossed its deserts.

The earth does not know languages.
The earth only sings the cries of those
buried inside it.

A singular cry from infinite voices.



MCR
2020-0816

Overheard at Table 2: A Tale of Two Invaders

#NotesFromNationalEmergency

Day 543

OK, Let’s say there are two invaders to the USA.

Allrighty, let's say that.

And One wants to cook your food, and the other wants to destroy your lungs.

I see where you think you're going with this, but OK.

You want to put one in prison, but the other, you will send your children to.

What does that make you?

An American .... what's your point?

I think I just proved it.

Overheard at Booth 3: NFNE Day 471

Notes From a National Emergency
Day 471

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Agent, reporting to superior: So, yesterday we had a stop at a checkpoint west of Las Cruces.  Strong odor of marijuana emanating from the van.

Superior: Cool.  Any cash?

Agent: $36,000.

Superior: Excellent.  So, did you hand those illegals over to ICE?

Agent: Couldn't.  They were all citizens.

Superior: US Citizens?

Agent: Yes, sir.

Superior: Damn.  Well, did you at least keep the cash?

Agent: No, sir.

Superior: Why the hell not?

Agent: They were blonde white females, sir.

Superior: Karens-in- training?

Agent: Yes sir.

Superior: OK ... and I don't suppose you smoked some with 'em?

Agent: But of course, sir!

Superior: And nothing for me?!

Agent: Sir ... you know we always take care of you.   Got you a dime bag.

Superior: You're the best.



https://www.borderreport.com/news/border-agents-find-36000-in-cash-after-inspecting-suv-that-reeked-of-pot/

Overheard at Booth 1: NFNE Day 470 Colorado

Trying to find new material for Notes From a National Emergency and then I see this story about two escapees from a Colorado Penitentiary and they went south to the border and claimed to be illegal immigrants.  They expected to get a free plane trip to Mexico.  I mean, who thinks that stuff up.

Can you imagine the conversation?

"Yeah, we're illegals."

"Sorry, but your fingerprints came back.  You two are doing a decade each for drugs in Colorado."

"You gonna believe those guys?  They're high, dude!"

"Nice try."

"So, no plane ride to Mexico?"

"You're getting on a plane ... but it's not going to Mexico."

"Mierda!"




https://www.gainesville.com/ZZ/news/20200528/escaped-colorado-inmates-pretended-to-be-immigrants

Overread at Table 4: NFNE Day 469 May 28, 2020

This is a dispatch that I read from one of the centers, someone who overheard the conversation.  They translated it...

Maria: So you're getting deported Saturday.

Marta: Yes.  That makes tomorrow 'Rape Day'

Maria: What is Rape Day.

Marta: The day before they send you back, they come and take you to a room and they rape you.  Because they know that there is no one you can call, no one who is coming to see you, before they send you back.

Maria: Rape Day.

Marta: Yeah.

Maria: Men are fucking pigs wherever you fucking go.

Marta: Yeah.

Overheard at Table 3: NFNE Day 472

1: Did you see the police van ram the protesters in New York?

2: Yeah.  Harsh.

3: Well, you throw shit at a cop car, what do you expect?

2: I didn't know that any of those protesters took a solemn oath to serve and protect the public.

3: It's stupid to go up against cops.

1: Maybe the cops shouldn't be out there murdering people, then.

2: And what about the border patrol van last year?  Dude called migrants "subhuman" and ran him over with his truck.  Should he have known better?

3: Maybe should have known better than to come to the country illegally.

1: Last I heard, running someone over with a car is a bigger crime than crossing the border, so maybe you should should the fuck up.

3: Last time I meet with you snowflakes.


Notes From a National Emergency
Day 472
2020-0531

Overheard at Booth 2: Script idea "Primer Sangre"

Script Idea:

Primer Sangre

Yes, a remake of First Blood.

Yes, a remake.

No worries, Hollywood is flooded with them.  In fact, Hollywood couldn't make an original movie if it showed up on the doorstep as a final edit already prepared for mass distribution.

Regardless, take the original First Blood, which was the only Rambo movie worth a damn.  The rest were paltry attempts to make money, based on the public's adoration of toxic masculinity and its perverse Nationalist streak.  But the first movie, was a great psychological thriller about a soldier with PTSD against a small town Sheriff's office who were antagonistic toward veterans, a morality play about how society expects soldiers to give up their sanity (if not their lives) for rich men's wars, and then casts them aside like trash.

So ... now for the reboot.

Primer Sangre's main character is a young man who did 4 or 5 tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and who is a highly decorated and deadly killing machine (aren't they all?), but the difference in this instance is that he is also an undocumented Salvadoran who was brought here by his parents when he was only 3 years old.

The guy doesn't speak Spanish (if so, barely) and he lives in Arizona, and one day at a traffic stop (tail light out) he gets profiled by the hick Sheriff (White Supremacist) and then we're off through the desert with our hero fighting for his very life ... against the Sheriff's office and the CBP officers.

Picks them off, one by one.  "You can't send me back to a country I never knew!"  and "I died for this country!  Now I will kill for it!"  and other cool lines like that.

"You don't belong here," says the Sheriff in one scene.

"America made me.  If I don't belong here, then no one does!" he replies.

So, in the end, the whole question is about who is truly an American ... only those born here, or those who fought for the country ... regardless, if America is represented by all the characters in this film, it's quite obvious that the only thing America respects is the gallons of blood poured out into the desert sands by the ever-increasing body count.

Overheard at Booth 3: COVID in the Cages

- First, it starts off with an electronica beat ... bump bump bump bump, and then there is a little alternating rhythm... bum bum bum BUMBUM bum bum, bum bum bum BUMBUM bum bum,

then the lyrics start off with short, sharp, words like:

Dilley
Karnes
On all the human farms
No water
No soap
No safety and no hope

we got
COVID in the caaaaaaaaa-gggesssss!

... at that part the synths explode:  brrrrr-WWHHHHRRRRRR!!!

COVID in the caaaaaaaaa-gggesssss!

... and then back to the beat

Never
to see
It won't be shown on your tv
Migrants
alone
Suffocating so far away from home

then the chorus again: COVID IN THE CAAAAAA-GGGESSS!!

.. so, what do you think?


- What have you been listening to?


- Innerpartysystem's "American Trash."  Why?


- Just askin.