Great reporting with a point! Thanks for this one. I'm trying to unpack lessons/stories about small town Oracle to the larger world...including the role of immigration/migration: frankpierson.substack.com. Big Media doesn't get it.
Not to obsess about Matthews Environmental Solutions, truly a bit player in the sweeping scope of this article, but a quick lookup exposed a creepy fact about their operations. Two of their currently working (and touted as extremely efficient) crematoria are in Poland. Both are within goose-stepping distance (27 miles) of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In what universe can that be a coincidence?
We are indeed in an upside down world, and the expo makes clear exactly how much more upside down it’s going to get. Still, your vision of the alternative shines through. It is what I will hold onto until it’s time to jump off a cliff!
Thank you Todd for such persistence and connection, keep up the hard work of journalism and research.
"Then came the realization that gave me pause: although that devastated Sierra Tarahumara terrain and the Border Security Expo couldn’t be more different, they are, in fact, also intimately connected."
Buffy St. Marie, had this to say about contemporary commodification of Indigenous lands:
"Oh, it's all in the past you can say
But it's still going on here today
The government now wants the Iroquois land
That of the Seneca and the Cheyenne
It's here and it's now, you must help us dear man
Now that the buffalo's gone"
The militarization of lands is because the fossil fueled industrial complex has drawn their daggers to defend their dying mode of "civilization". Canadian Tar sands big oil, DPL pipeline, and the Prairie fires in Saskatchewan and Alberta are a sign of what is to come as a result of this retrograde politic. When the environmental and human destruction subsides, millions will have been displaced and then killed directly or through attrition. The Syrian civil war started with farmers protesting crop losses and the lack of life saving assistance from the Assad government. They were labeled "terrorists". This country is arming to the teeth for much the same.
Anyone openly or defiantly sympathizing with migrants, objectified as "invaders" and arriving at our SW border, will soon enough be seen as enemies of the state. Autonomous defense will be needed.
How you connected your walk with Quiroz with the expo was really moving-- and sad, really, really sad. Also, as you and others in the comments have pointed out, the incineration company's presence is dark. This is some dystopian nightmare fuel, for sure.
Question, Todd: Is it difficult getting media credentials for this expo? I could see them not wanting TBC poking around in there. Or do they not care?
Article translated into Spanish: https://havanatimesenespanol.org/reportajes/cambio-climatico-y-el-complejo-industrial-fronterizo-con-trump/
Great reporting with a point! Thanks for this one. I'm trying to unpack lessons/stories about small town Oracle to the larger world...including the role of immigration/migration: frankpierson.substack.com. Big Media doesn't get it.
Thanks, Frank. I just followed your substack and look forward to reading some of your stuff.
'the website also said that the company offered “cremation systems".'
A company that constructs industrial-scale crematoria is perhaps not a surprising participant of a fascist jubilee.
It would be worth considering the applications of such technology for regimes that expect to have a large number of bodies they wish to dispose of.
Thanks for your comment, Ian. The symbolism is both morbid and (to some degree) accurate.
Not to obsess about Matthews Environmental Solutions, truly a bit player in the sweeping scope of this article, but a quick lookup exposed a creepy fact about their operations. Two of their currently working (and touted as extremely efficient) crematoria are in Poland. Both are within goose-stepping distance (27 miles) of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In what universe can that be a coincidence?
The world is random. It can certainly be a coincidence. That said, it bears further investigation.
We are indeed in an upside down world, and the expo makes clear exactly how much more upside down it’s going to get. Still, your vision of the alternative shines through. It is what I will hold onto until it’s time to jump off a cliff!
Pretty upside down, but we got another plan :)
Thank you Todd for such persistence and connection, keep up the hard work of journalism and research.
"Then came the realization that gave me pause: although that devastated Sierra Tarahumara terrain and the Border Security Expo couldn’t be more different, they are, in fact, also intimately connected."
Buffy St. Marie, had this to say about contemporary commodification of Indigenous lands:
"Oh, it's all in the past you can say
But it's still going on here today
The government now wants the Iroquois land
That of the Seneca and the Cheyenne
It's here and it's now, you must help us dear man
Now that the buffalo's gone"
The militarization of lands is because the fossil fueled industrial complex has drawn their daggers to defend their dying mode of "civilization". Canadian Tar sands big oil, DPL pipeline, and the Prairie fires in Saskatchewan and Alberta are a sign of what is to come as a result of this retrograde politic. When the environmental and human destruction subsides, millions will have been displaced and then killed directly or through attrition. The Syrian civil war started with farmers protesting crop losses and the lack of life saving assistance from the Assad government. They were labeled "terrorists". This country is arming to the teeth for much the same.
Anyone openly or defiantly sympathizing with migrants, objectified as "invaders" and arriving at our SW border, will soon enough be seen as enemies of the state. Autonomous defense will be needed.
Looking to do a piece on the politics of fire in Oracle/Arizona. Topical right now.
I'll keep an eye out for it.
Another excellent essay, Todd. The unique perspective you provided on this is invaluable.
Many thanks, Robert. As always, appreciate your kind words.
https://www.uipath.com/careers/jobs
Notice that jobs in the US are either very senior level or sales. The drudgery is offshored.
How you connected your walk with Quiroz with the expo was really moving-- and sad, really, really sad. Also, as you and others in the comments have pointed out, the incineration company's presence is dark. This is some dystopian nightmare fuel, for sure.
Question, Todd: Is it difficult getting media credentials for this expo? I could see them not wanting TBC poking around in there. Or do they not care?