Ep.32: Lone Star Standoff - Chaos at the Border

# Satanists Nextdoor
# Ep.32: Lone Star Standoff - Chaos at the Border

[Lilin Lavin]
Welcome, dear listeners, to Satanist Next Door. We're your hosts, Lilin Lavin and Tommy Lavin. Whether you're an open-minded, curious onlooker or a fellow Satanist-seeking camaraderie, our goal is to share our personal experiences and delve into the intricate tapestry of Satanism in our daily lives, occasionally inviting other guests to share their unique perspectives, leaving no pentagram unturned.

We'll explore how our beliefs shape our views on society, dive into struggles and triumphs we've encountered, and reveal the humanity that unites us all. So grab your favorite chalice and join us on this captivating journey. Satanist Next Door is ready to peel back the curtain and offer you a glimpse into our world, one captivating episode at a time.

[Tommy Lavin]
Hello and welcome to another episode of Satanist Next Door. So today we are going to be diving into the chaos on the Texas border, exposing the truths, the myths, the dark, and the oppressive roots entangled within. So being residents of Texas, you know, some of this stuff, Civil War talk, the way our governor is defying the president, the Supreme Court, all that, you know, somewhat kind of affects us in a way.

[Lilin Lavin]
It does. And, you know, I don't really know that Abbott's necessarily defying the Supreme Court. I think it's more playing around with the very open-ended language that is provided by them and even the Constitution, because, again, I think that they may have written this for people with a little bit more intellect, a little less manipulation, maybe not the intellect, I won't say they're stupid.

Yeah, no. But they're less, maybe they were less manipulative.

[Tommy Lavin]
They were more working for a different- A better cause, you know, I think they were, they probably wrote all of this for people that, you know.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. But then again, you know, the South loves its historical secession issues.

[Tommy Lavin]
Uprisings and we're going to secede from the Union. Secede. Secede.

It's a common thing to mess up. Yeah, we're going to secede from the Union.

[Lilin Lavin]
And no, you're not. They're not. And there's so many reasons they're not, you know, and I'm so disappointed with so many of these legislators from, what is it now, 25 states that do not speak on behalf of their constituents when they send, you know, these wishes of positive towards Abbott and his, you know, mission here, whatever that actually is, I couldn't really tell you, but you know, and not just that, but their tax money, maybe they don't realize, is being used to send their police force, their guard, their taxes are being sent to our state. Our taxes are being used in our state for things that many people aren't supportive of.

Let's be clear. Immigration is a right. People have a right to come here.

Yes, they should do it legally. Yes, there's a process in place. Yes, I support a legal immigration process.

But when you come here, enter this country, you are given the right to then seek asylum. That is a right. It's a right that gave us all, unless we're indigenous to this country, what we have today.

You know, and so a lot of people spit in the face of their own ancestry when they sit here and pretend that we've just all been here forever and have all these special rights because they were conferred to us at birth because we were here, because other people immigrated here.

[Tommy Lavin]
Right, right. Generally through Ellis Island or something like that at that point.

[Lilin Lavin]
Right. And there's hundreds of thousands of different, you know, groups that are represented, the reasons that are represented, the good, the bad, the ugly that brought them here. You know, it's not like we have one overarching, you know, what developed this country into what it is today.

But the important thing is, what's happening now is really a political game.

[Tommy Lavin]
Definitely. I mean, this is, this is a game of politics. You know, and unfortunately, I don't even know if unfortunate is the right word, sickening, maddening.

I don't know the fact that some of these congressmen, I should just say politicians, politicians, okay, are still listening to Trump.

[Lilin Lavin]
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm not. I mean, there were things to be clear.

I think that I've always been more center, definitely center left. But definitely more center, because I believed, and I still believe that there are good people for each position, and that their political affiliation is not the defining factor for me, at least it wasn't. Right.

And because I wanted to know that they were the right person for the job and different mentalities, different backgrounds, different skill sets applied differently to different positions within government, they should, regardless of the little letter that sits next to their name. I used to feel confident in reading through and researching, and I do suggest people do this when they have candidates in mind, because you may be surprised what you learn. They're researching individuals before you say, yes, they'd be great on the Railroad Commission.

Why would they be good? What about the Lands Commission? What does that even mean?

What does that job entail? You know, I don't even know if a lot of people are looking at who they're voting for and what that job is. I could tell you right now, they're not.

They should. They really should. I know.

[Tommy Lavin]
And what's disheartening is they're not.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. And here we are, like, we're conservatives. We're liberals.

We're, you know, X, Y, Z, box here. I get it. Naturally, human beings are creatures that like to live in labeled boxes.

[Tommy Lavin]
We're tribal.

[Lilin Lavin]
We're very tribal creatures. Which is fine, to a degree. There are pros and cons to all things, tribalism included.

But what's happening right now is a very vindictive, angry base of people known as the GOP, who has become inundated with extremists. Yeah, MAGA, Christian Nationalists.

[Tommy Lavin]
I mean, that's pretty much what they're made of.

[Lilin Lavin]
It's all about a means to an end, right? They're behind Trump right now, because Trump is the most useful tool in the toolbox for them to get what they want right now. There's enough momentum behind that particular individual and that movement for them to continue riding on that coattail right now.

It will not always be Trump. Eventually, you know, let's face it, he's very old. They're going to have to find a new face for that at some point.

And they know this. They've tried with other people, you know, whatever. But when it comes to the border, and what's happening right now, people are dying.

People are literally being killed because of the negligence and the games that are being played with human lives. And then you have this very disturbing facet, where you have these people that are so pro-life, so pro-life, except in the woke people, and immigrant people, and brown people of all shades. And just the way that they only care about this very obvious small segment that is in line with what it is they're trying to accomplish.

The birther movement is not a new one. Individuals like Dan Patrick, Greg Abbott, unfortunately, even people like Cruz, which really boggles my brain, because he wasn't even born here. And I think it's incredibly disrespectful to his heritage.

When you look at what it is that he is supporting, it's disrespectful to his person, that he lets people like Donald Trump sit there and crap all over his family and his, you know, wife, all these things. I mean, he doesn't even care about them, just from how he acts.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, we could go down a whole- There's so much. Whole Trump, you know, how people line up behind him. And that's just- But right now, what do we have?

We have people dying at the border. I mean, is what we have. We have, essentially, booby traps in a way.

They're not in a way.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, we have floating giant marine buoys with saw blades. I mean, folks, I'm talking about bigger than dinner plates, in between giant orange marine buoys. If you haven't seen them, look them up.

And barbed wire and razor wire underneath it, under the water. So, you know- Which is a threat to marine life, also. You know, it's an environmental hazard, but it is a human hazard.

It is literally a human rights violation. And Texas has so many of those. I'm not going to pretend that this is- But this is the one that I'm focused on today.

A woman and her children, very much eligible to seek asylum. They have every right to come here and attempt the process. That is something they have a right to do.

I don't know if they'll get it. Families do tend to be prioritized. People with children do tend to get more priority, depending.

But what I understand, I wasn't there. I only know from what I've been able to get through many different news outlets and recounts, retelling of these stories. So, the retellings that I've seen kind of go over the fact that these individuals are making it across this river.

It's a very deep, swift river. They begin to suffer from fatigue, as you will. It's very strong.

These are small children. You're trying to swim. And I don't know if you've ever been in the water with kids, but if they're afraid, you know, they're going to panic.

It's They pull you under all by themselves.

[Tommy Lavin]
Right.

[Lilin Lavin]
And they're tired because they've already been walking for who knows how long without proper food, without proper shelter, without proper rest. This is not a small journey for these individuals. It comes at great cost.

Many have sold every little thing they have just to get the money to make the trip. Many have been assaulted on the way. I mean, the horrible things that, you know.

So, the humanity is being forgotten because these are still human beings. They get to this very large barrier, and this barrier is supposed to be federally monitored. That's the job of the federal government.

We as different states have individuals that help to aid in that monitoring, but it's a federal thing. So, people get to the other side, and then what happens is whatever checkpoint or whatever area that they end up at, they're supposed to declare themselves. They should have some form of documentation that they present, and then the process has begun.

There's a paperwork process. There's interview process. There's health check process.

There's a lot of things that happen. It's not like they just go, okay, cool, you're here. Come on in.

And that's what they make it sound like.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, they make it sound like, because I hear this, of course, living in Texas, kind of, you know, you hear people say all sorts of stuff. They make it sound like they make it across the border, and they're handed a cell phone. They're given a deed to a house.

They're given, you know, thousands of dollars and say, welcome to America, and that is absolutely not the experience that happens to these immigrants. But, you know, hey, you know, when you tell a lie, and you really, really, you know, embellish upon it, for some reason, it becomes more believable to certain types of people.

[Lilin Lavin]
And I think they want to believe it. There's this running current in our country, a long running current. And it goes back to the secession that we were talking about.

I mean, that whole process and what brought us to the fact that why Texas can't really ever do that again. Yeah. When they begged, and let me be clear, they begged to rejoin the nation.

They begged to rejoin the Union. They wanted to be that. So let's just get that out of the way really quick.

Go ahead and search through the history. They begged to come back to the Union. So let's just clear that up.

They didn't come back with all these, you know, you need us. They needed the Union.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, Texas tried to be its own country. They failed.

[Lilin Lavin]
They did.

[Tommy Lavin]
Horribly, miserably.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, it was... And it wasn't just Texas. But the whole process here was we wanted the right to oppress people.

And we feel oppressed because you're not letting us oppress people the way we want to. We have all these things invested in the individuals we are using against their will to succeed. And you're telling us we can't do that anymore.

We don't like it. And they were angry. They declared states rights because they felt each state had the right to use people as human chattel.

And they were angry that that was being taken. Their free labor was being taken away from them. And here we are today.

And what's the fight about? We still don't like brown people. We're terrified of what's happening.

The invasion. It is not an invasion. There is no giant armed forces coming across the board.

That is an invasion. This is not an invasion. These are people coming from South America.

Look into it. There's so much happening down there. People are literally losing everything, including their lives.

Their children are at risk. The education is not there. Their health care is not there.

The jobs aren't there. Should there be ways for that to be fixed in those locations? Yeah.

But what do you do?

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. I mean, do we have an issue with the border? Yes.

I mean, undoubtedly. Do we need to find solutions for it? Yes.

Absolutely. Is it the way that it's being painted by the extremist extremist faction? Absolutely not.

Are people dying?

[Lilin Lavin]
Yes. Are criminals coming across the border? Absolutely.

There are criminals that come across. There are criminals that live right here.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. There are criminals that jump on an airplane and fly here. Yeah.

You know, I mean, there's all this border, border, border, border, border talk. A lot of illegal immigrants or people that are, you know, deem that overstayed their visa. They flew in.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. And let me tell you, a lot of them aren't brown folks. No, there's huge statistical references.

You can look up to talk about the crazy amount of people that come from places like Ireland.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, it's there's so many things that make it up and it frustrates the bejesus out of me. But Dan Patrick had this big. I mean, he went on.

[Tommy Lavin]
He went on a bit of a race at 10 and basically, you know, said the the the quiet, you know, the the quiet words out loud where he was basically saying what they're really afraid of is that enough people are going to come over, that it's going to be a culture change and that more brown people will be voting. And that's going to change the dynamics of our country.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, he did outright say it. They're coming here. They're going to become citizens and they're going to have the right to vote.

I'm going to go ahead and tell you right now, Mr. Patrick, there's already plenty of legal people here that are of Hispanic origin, that if they really wanted to make a dent, they can't. And many of them are very dedicated to the actual democratic process. They carefully look at this because they think of it as a very huge privilege.

They're not looking at it as a way to just take over a country. They want representation like them, which is fair. Every group here wants equal representation.

It's kind of what you're guaranteed. And so, yes, Hispanic people are put up as legislation candidates. Hispanic people become legislators because they represent that portion of a very vibrant community here.

So, yes, they should have representation. Every group should. There's been a big debate over whether or not indigenous people should have representation because of all the different things that are involved in that.

I still argue they should because what happens around them affects them. And so, you know, for them to have a seat at the table is not an outlandish request, especially when they contribute almost a hundred, what is it, billion dollars worth of finance into this state alone.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. I mean, and again, I remember, and it was so bad, South Park did an episode, it was like 10 years ago or something like that. We're taking our jobs, you know, and it's like, no, you know, a lot of the jobs that these individuals wind up taking are jobs that general Americans don't want to do.

You know, I mean, we knew farmers and the farmers basically said if they shut this down, agriculture is going to suffer across the board. Food prices are going to go up because it's the migrants that help with the harvest.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. And we lived in a rural community, so it's not as if we're speaking out of our rear. The groups there would come seasonally.

And, you know, this is a huge process for people that aren't aware their children move. They move as families. The kids are in and out of schools.

There's a process for them to go into and out of school. This is all documented, by the way. And these individuals pay taxes.

Yes, they pay into a system they get zero benefit from, for the most part. They don't get any kind of Social Security until they're a citizen. They're not getting all the benefits that citizens get, but they are paying into that system.

And as they migrate around doing these jobs, they're contributing to your communities. So, I mean, think about that as you're getting all pissed off about the things that they're doing here to our country.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah.

[Lilin Lavin]
Construction.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. You know, I mean, at least construction here in Texas, if you were to get rid of migrants, we'd have almost no construction workers. I mean, you might as well triple the price of the house and triple the time that it takes to build a house.

I mean, because we watch neighborhoods go up around us in a blink of an eye. They're like, boom.

[Lilin Lavin]
And these people are hard workers. They come over here and they work their butts off. They usually have multiple jobs.

And I mean, I don't go off on tangents about my own family. I'm not going to go into too many details, but we have individuals that are immigrants in our family. And I mean, direct recent additions to our family.

So we understand very well the hardships that come along with this because it is not an easy thing. And this individual that I'm talking of works very hard every single day, has worked very hard and spent thousands into a system to be able to become a citizen. And I mean, pays into it, encourages other people to follow the process, to do it legally, works within the letter of the law.

And it's still a long, painful, arduous process.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, it is a very long process. And I mean, this whole scenario that Dan Patrick put out, you know, makes it sound like to the general uneducated, maybe I shouldn't say uneducated. Okay.

Willfully ignorant MAGA Christian nationalist person that they're, again, they're going to come across the border, they're going to be handed a cell phone, they're going to be given a house, they're going to be given thousands of dollars, and they're going to be given a voter registration card. And that is just absolutely, it is probably a good decade before they're even able to vote, I would say, you know, looking at the experience that some of the people that we know have come through.

[Lilin Lavin]
And it's such a disservice because a lot of the cultures that are being attacked are beautiful, vibrant cultures, they bring a lot of positive things into our country. It's not just this culture of violence. There is so much history and language and intellect that comes with these people.

And so it's a huge disservice. I mean, doctors, lawyers, politicians, you name it, and they've been brought here by their desire to be part of this country. And so you're doing a huge disservice by trying to lump them all in with MS-13 gangs, because that's a small segment of what you're dealing with.

And when you do it, people like Abbott and Patrick and all these morons are doing, you're actually bolstering the illegal process, where people have to sell off all the stuff they have to go and work with the coyote to work with the gangs to work with all these things, you're actually creating more of an incentive to go that route, because you've made it so incredibly difficult to do it the regular way.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. Well, and, and so, again, kind of back to the things that Abbott and all of them have been putting into place, you know, no matter, I would imagine, no matter where you're at in the US, you've probably heard this. I mean, our daughter was talking to us the other night, she talks to a boy in the UK.

And basically, he was like, they're talking over here, like, Texas is about to go into civil war. You know, that's the way, at least it sounds to people outside of Texas, maybe even some people inside of Texas. I mean, there's caravans of gods for or truckers for God or whatnot that are coming down here.

But they also did this little thing where they slipped this law into the police force, where now the police force can look at a person and basically say, you know, are you from this country? Or can I see your identification? Yeah, it's kind of a show me your papers.

Yeah, show me your papers type bill. Now, I highly doubt they're doing that to Fred who's driving his Lexus down the road and just gets pulled over for speeding. But I bet you when a person of color gets pulled over, they they might just ask that and they're not supposed to be it's supposed to be the way that the laws technically written is that it's supposed to be they witness them come across, but it's so open ended, that any police officer can basically act as Border Patrol or ice, I should say they can act more as ice.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, and it gave very broad powers in reality, and concerningly so, and some of the people that were speaking against the legislation who are legislators, and had experiences with this from their own lives. I know one in particular, and I'm blanking on their name, but they were talking about how their father was out doing, you know, just basic repair on their own home, and live here in Texas, and their dad didn't have papers and stuff on them. And you know, he was taken away, because he was doing repairs on his own house, you know, and he didn't have stuff on him.

And they decided that that was enough to then it's just things like that. Is that where we really want to go back to because I thought we had kind of progressed past that. Now, I know Biden and his administration are up against a rock and a hard place, because it's a political year, very strong, powerful political year, because we have the presidential race happening.

So you know, there is a lot of talk about the things he's willing to institute. I don't agree with all of what they're looking to do. But I do agree with some of it.

Yeah. And I think it is a reasonable way to at least move forward. They've presented a lot of what the GOP is asking for.

It still holds a lot of what you know, everybody would like and see, people are mad because there's funding for you know, Ukraine and stuff in there. I have a very hard time hearing that, knowing what's at stake and knowing what's happening in Ukraine. And I really suggest people maybe go and watch 20 days of Maripol, because I think it gives you a lot more understanding of what was happening, what led up to it and what those people went through as this began and what they're still going through today.

And but we we are all at risk if we leave those doors open in Europe to what Putin wants to do, which is to take back all of what he feels was property of the USSR. And that will affect all of us. And when they're trying to accomplish these bills about the border, and they put that in there, it's because in reality, it affects border security, it affects our country as well. So without getting too much into that, because that's another episode, it's it's a broader, you have to look beyond yourself and beyond what you see today into what that will lead up to if we don't address it now.

[Tommy Lavin]
Right. Well, and basically, it's, it's been said by GOP members in the Senate, the ones that are still somewhat sane, even some that I normally disagree with, that they they basically said, this is the most conservative immigration border bill that we will ever get, you know, even if Trump was to win in 2024, and become president in 2025. And we tried to push the same bill through, we would not get it.

[Lilin Lavin]
And for many different reasons. But the fact is, if it were to go that way, and I hope it doesn't, there'd be a whole lot worse things. Because people think that the border policies he put in place before and essentially what was being dubbed the Muslim ban was horrific.

I mean, now we're talking about denying birth citizenship, which again, our rights are conferred at birth, citizens of this country, do people take advantage of that? Absolutely. But it's the rights that are conferred.

So if you're going to say that legally, immigrated individuals, the kids that are born, which would normally then be citizens, then it becomes, well, how does that work? What happens now? Do I have to reapply for my kid?

I mean, so there's a whole can of worms. But the Trump thing is terrifying to me. Yeah.

So I'm not even ready to go down that road. But where we are today is I feel that what we're seeing is a ploy to create so much stress, chaos, anger, division, that it affects the presidential election. What I think, what I hope that we're seeing is that in fact, it is affecting it because people are waking up to the reality that these extremists are willing to destroy the constitution, destroy this country to pull us further apart for their own political gains.

I hope.

[Tommy Lavin]
I hope that's what, I mean, people are seeing because it's pretty, pretty obvious. I mean, when you look at it and when you at least even just listen to what they say, I'm not saying like listen to what a Democrat or somebody running against them says, listen to what they're saying. I mean, they're saying the inside words outside because they don't care because they feel like there is so much tribalism, so much friction now.

[Lilin Lavin]
Well, there is.

[Tommy Lavin]
They can basically say whatever they want. They have their camp. The question is, is their camp big enough?

And that, I don't know.

[Lilin Lavin]
It's scary because I feel that society has this tendency and it's not new where they can become very groupthink. It's just a thing that society does. And so one of the fears with stuff like that is when you have this kind of movement, now what's going on at Eagle Pass, all the individuals coming from other states, states sending their police, their state police, their different forces, all these different individuals with very strong feelings of resentment, frustration, fear, they're all coming together in this very small area.

It's a powder keg. Exactly. And my fear is that part of the design, whether intentional or not, was to create dangerous chaos.

And that if some actual violence were to break out, then it forces everybody to have to pick sides. And it creates this very dangerous dynamic where it went from just angry words and angry ideas and nasty legislation to now we have people looking at each other in a combatant mindset.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. I absolutely agree. I think Abbott and some of these other politicians, they are setting up an environment that if one person sneezes wrong, it's going to blow.

And like you said, then people, even outside of Eagle Pass, even hundreds of miles away where we're at here, the way people make Texas sound is you would think this is like a war zone. Everybody looks at each other side-eye. It's not that way.

But it could become that if this powder keg sort of goes, because that, like you said, people will start to look at other minority communities. And right now they're ostracized. But now does it become even more?

Does it become a true us versus them? A true, oh, we're at, this has already devolved into violence, and I need to do my part as a Texan, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Lilin Lavin]
And why does that come up? And why do we talk about things like that so much when we are coming from it in a satanic perspective? Well, we are a group of people that are othered.

We're often very outspoken because that's just the passionate nature that we have. And the reasons why we align ourselves with a name so many have so many negative connotations for is because what we identified as, and that spirit of standing up against this kind of tyrannical mentality. And we've already been out there saying these things because we feel so impassioned because of our religious beliefs, deeply ingrained in us to speak out.

Even if you go, and we don't, but even if you go into the biblical version of Satan, and in the Old Testament, what that was, was somebody that just the adversary, and not in a, I'm going to fight you kind of adversary, the one that pushes you to think, the one that pushes you to challenge your own thoughts, the one that pushes you to really think through what it is that you're trying to do and how it affects things in the broader picture.

That's what that character did. And it kind of devolves later, but it still translates over to that romantic Satanism that so much of what we hold true and hold value to comes into play. Those things kind of converge a little bit there because the adversarial quality, we're out there doing that.

And because of that, when people are looking for an enemy, we are one of the people that they look to. Yeah.

[Tommy Lavin]
Whether you're vocal or not. I mean, yeah, there's other Satanists that kind of stay pretty quiet and all of that. Which is fine because they represent it in different ways.

And we need all types. Totally fine. But I would be willing to bet something about them is different.

Something about them stands out. And again, how far down this path of we're looking for.

[Lilin Lavin]
Well, you see the rhetoric, right? Your purple hair, your septum ring, you're woke. I mean, let me be real clear.

There's evangelicals that have purple hair and septum rings. Where do you draw the dividing line?

[Tommy Lavin]
Well, and that's one of the reasons why the evangelical movement blew up so fast is because they kind of were like, you know what, let's make it okay for this, which it should be okay. I mean, what is your hair color and piercings have to do with your religion?

[Lilin Lavin]
Nothing. But then you have individuals like the very undercurrent movement within that, like Greg Locke, who paint them out to be infiltrators in your midst. So it gets very ugly very fast.

And then when you have 25 state leaders, because again, I don't believe the majority of the state supports these thoughts, actions and words. It's a small, angry minority of very loud people. And when you have these people, it becomes very dangerous because we're talking about half the country when we realize it's really more of a third.

And I'm not even sure if it's that much anymore. I'm not. But it's really a third of the country that supports this sort of extremist movement.

And it's a very varying degree. Yeah.

[Tommy Lavin]
I think 2024 will show us. I mean, we'll have a pretty clear picture, although there's still people that will, they, they dislike all this, but because they've, you know, they've voted are their whole life. They're just going to vote are no matter what, you know, even though it's going to be detrimental to them.

I don't understand that mindset, but you know, there are those people out there, you know, but back to sort of what we're, what we're seeing here. You know, I would almost say the invasion in Texas is, is almost the other way around, because again, we have armed people coming from other States down to Texas. And then you have Eagle pass, which I thought there was a really good story that came out of the UK, which was kind of comical, which, you know, you hear Eagle pass, Eagle pass.

And again, you would really think that place is a war zone. And yet there's this golf course that's like two miles away from the border open people playing golf. Border patrol can't go on it.

Border patrol has been kicked further back than that.

[Lilin Lavin]
Right.

[Tommy Lavin]
They're, they're not even allowed to play through.

[Lilin Lavin]
They have to actually go through this little region and I'm forgetting the name of the community. It's by Eagle. It's within, it's like something.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah.

[Lilin Lavin]
And they have to go through this area that border patrol cannot even get near to play through their, their golf game.

[Tommy Lavin]
So if it's such a horrid, like awful war zone, I mean, yeah, I mean, you, you don't see, you don't see golf courses in Ukraine, you know, when the missiles were striking, you didn't really see them opening people playing around a golf as, as Russian soldiers were running by and, you know, killing civilians. So it's, it's not this, it's absolutely not what is being portrayed out there by these extremist GOP members.

[Lilin Lavin]
No. And it's affecting the very fabric of our democracy. These continued attacks for people that so claim to love this country and the constitutional fabric that binds it together, they're just ripping it apart in tatters and in places have like glaring issues at this point.

And, you know, from what's happening at the border to the South and what's happening again, now Texas has these communities North that are trying to create borders between us and other States. Yeah.

[Tommy Lavin]
The invisible abortion borders that, you know, Texas is the problem. The thing that I really worry about when it comes to Texas is, is Texas is sort of like this testing ground for the extremists. They, they put these things in, you know, invisible abortion border walls that, that are along the highways chaplains in school, all these immigration laws that they're going after now, excuse me.

And other States that have these extremists in leadership watch. And when Texas gets away with it, then they say, huh, Texas got away with that. We should try it here.

And so how long before this continues to spread and all of this hate and this extremism spreads between from out from Texas into these other States?

[Lilin Lavin]
Well, and it already does because the state of Texas educationally, right? We are what creates the material that goes out into textbooks throughout for the whole US. So when you're looking at the effect that these mentalities have overarching, then you have to take into account how this affects what people are being taught.

And if we have a state this large, that affects this much of the nation, essentially run by extremists, pushing extreme ideas, if it continues to snowball the way it has, this is what becomes the norm elsewhere. So what's happening to individuals in equal paths, the people that are being harmed, and it's not just women and children drowning, it's men, women, children, that are being harmed, beaten. There's been issues with individuals who work on the border actually brutalizing and stealing women, because obviously, who's who's going to know that they're missing?

So there, there's an issue there, you want to talk about human trafficking, we have people that work in a capacity where they're supposed to be providing the service of protecting and facilitating harming. So that's a thing that's happening. It's documented, that's not pulled out of nowhere.

There was an instance where I turned out that it was, you know, someone that was employed to do border work that was actually behind it. So these things are happening, we have militias down there, we have militias down there. Now, some do have a very strong idea of what they're trying to do.

I would say moral compass, I would say it's it. The reason it starts to get iffy for me is because some of them include the Bible as the reason that they're doing what they do. And yes, there are ways you can apply that that are very positive.

So great, from that perspective. But then there's also the very, you know, ugly side that we've been seeing from the extremist faction that makes it acceptable to cause harm to people. I've seen people routinely talking about using that as a justification to murder people because they are, you know, the outsider.

And that is where it becomes very iffy to me. Because on the one hand, you're talking about how the sanctity of life is protected by, you know, the Bible, but then you have this very, you know, and abusing children is protected by the sanctity of the Bible and subjugating your wife is protected by the sanctity of the Bible. Slavery.

Slavery. Yeah. So it gets really freaking murky for me.

So yes, if they're out there doing it for the best intentions, and actually looking to to do something positive for, you know, the immigrating population and the population that already exist here, cool, I'm happy, do your thing. But if you're using it with that weird, you know, kind of flimsy cherry picked version. Now I'm really concerned.

Yeah, I get really concerned.

[Tommy Lavin]
And, you know, back to kind of what I was saying with this, how it can move into other states is, yes, right now, there's a lot of stuff that moves from Texas into other states. But if this powder keg really blows up in Texas, when it comes to immigration, how soon before some of these other states with these extremist leaders start looking and saying, you know what, we're being invaded, you know, Florida is being invaded, Tennessee is being invaded, South Dakota is being invaded. Yeah, you know, I mean, when you take a word, that means one thing, you use it, bastardize the word, you bastardize the word, then it has no meaning anymore.

And you just use we're being invaded for for anything you don't really like, you know, a group of people are here, a group of people here are growing in numbers. And whether those are immigrants, or let's say the LGBTQIA community, or just enter any sort of minority community into there, can you then use we're being invaded for that? And I don't know the answer.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, no, it's, it gets really weird. And I guess what I've really just been trying to come down on this with, and it started when I watched, you know, women trying to escape from brutality and issues like, you know, happened to so many around the world, including our own country. And they're crying out, you know, a you to me, and they're in the water and their boats and the boats are being, you know, not, they don't care.

And they're not letting other people, you know, do things to help them, then you have to ask yourself, well, where's the line? Where does the humanity, you know, stop? And where do the people have the rights?

And what are we doing as far as a society that values, you know, human lives? How do you let people suffer drown as a torturous, torturous death? That's a horrible way to have to, you know, suffer.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, this, the story of that, of that family was really, really disturbing, because if I remember correctly, Border Patrol was trying to get to her to to save her, and they were stopped by, I don't remember, was it the Texas Guard or, or, I don't know, somebody under Greg Abbott, it may have been National Guard, Texas National Guard, as far as I understand, feel free to correct me.

[Lilin Lavin]
And then it was the border, the Federal Border Patrol. So that's the two different, I guess, factions that are kind of in conflict right now. Because they painted them as representative of Joe Biden, and the National Guard of Texas as, you know, Representative Abbott.

So you've got these two warring factions that are being pitted against one another. Again, these are all American citizens now being pitted against one another, which, you know, does lead to that civil war rhetoric. We're not in a civil war.

We're currently dealing with some very tense stressors on these two different groups. And they are very concerning, but it's not a civil war. And yes, a bunch of really pissy, crybaby individuals who have a lot of keyboard experience have run down to the border to all come together for some long freaking weekend to play Patriot LARPer and fulfill this weird fantasy they have in their mind of what it is to be a patriot.

And this is definitely the opposite of that, folks, just so you're aware. But they've come down here to do this. And it's become such a farce.

You know, it's scary though, to me, because it's the same rhetoric that they use during, you know, J6, during that January 6 thing at the Capitol. But now they've had time to think about where they screwed up, and apparently not think enough about the ramifications of those screw ups to consider the real long term consequences. I mean, people could, again, we're going to see it.

I know we're going to see it. I'm going to call it here. People are going to lose their jobs, they're going to be called out.

I mean, these things are going to happen. And then they're going to blame, you know, Biden, because they made stupid decisions that affected, you know, their lives.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, I mean, they made the decision, they decided to come down here. And again, you know, I, I personally don't think Texas needs all these militia groups from these other states. I don't think Texas needs the police from other states.

I don't think they need these other states, whatever they are, National Guard.

[Lilin Lavin]
They don't know the region. And to be very clear, a lot of people that have been down in Eagle Pass for periods of time, we're dealing with a bilingual group. A lot of people that are coming down here, they're not bilingual.

They don't understand the area. They don't understand the people that live there every day of their life, that have been in Eagle Pass for generations. They don't understand that.

And a lot of these people are coming here looking for a fight. So everyone that looks like the target they have in mind, and again, I'm telling you, this is a generational community that involves a lot of Mexican Americans. So of course, they look Hispanic.

You know, where are you? Where are you sorting these groups out? How do you know who's who?

And so you're down there with a lot of very angry, very racist, very, you know, hyped up people. And I'm terrified for the community because they brought they brought the invasion.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, it's like having thousands of like Kyle Rittenhouse's down there. You know, saving private crying, saving private crying.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah, there's a pretty good meme on that Kyle on the border, you know, but no, this is like, as funny as those things are that come out of these very horrible situations. I'm very worried about where this is going. What is the end goal for this?

And I honestly don't know what it is. Maybe they don't even know what it is.

[Tommy Lavin]
I don't think that I think they know what the goal they want is. And I do think that they they want the powder keg.

[Lilin Lavin]
They they are hoping something it forces people to pick a lane.

[Tommy Lavin]
Well, but then they can blame they'll they'll then you know, it's another thing they'll they'll try and blame Biden for it. You know, and it'll be another thing. Oh, look, Biden did that.

No, Biden didn't call 1000s of armed people down to Texas. Biden didn't do this. Biden didn't do that.

[Lilin Lavin]
That was I don't love Mitt Romney, right. But he spoke out against it very strongly. What Trump directly said, don't take any border deal.

Don't try to fix this. Don't do any ramifications that you know, I don't approve of for the long term. Just go ahead and let this kind of happen.

And see where it goes. Lindsey fucking Graham.

[Tommy Lavin]
I mean, again, this is what I'm saying. When you have people like Lindsey Graham saying, don't do this, this is a bad idea. You know, you can you can pass these laws.

And if you win, they'll benefit you. I mean, that's the shit shit Lindsey Graham was saying. And I'm like, whole, you know, how far have you gone?

How extreme Have you gone when Lindsey Graham is speaking up against you?

[Lilin Lavin]
Well, it's all being driven by a very small, angry individual who, you know, whose lies and horrible life choices are really starting to catch up with them incredibly publicly. And I feel that they are using this as a way to seek revenge to harm people that they feel have harmed them. And I don't even think that's a that's a reach as far as a conclusion from what we're seeing right now.

It's like, no, people have signed on to his bandana.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah, Trump said his whole agenda was about, you know, revenge. And so all of these from from Greg Abbott on up, you know, they've signed on to that they're right out there. Yeah, cool.

Let's have revenge and violence and all that.

[Lilin Lavin]
I mean, they're all for it. Well, I'm just incensed because people have no right to do this to other people. People should not be okay, letting people drown.

I get not maybe wanting them in the country. Fine. I don't necessarily agree.

There's a process, the process, but we're all outside of the indigenous population. We're all here from somewhere. And maybe no, we can't just go back and, you know, do things differently at this point.

But we don't have a right to just reject other people's opportunity done the right way to come here for very valid reasons and try to build a life.

[Tommy Lavin]
Right. And even if the individuals are immigrating here the wrong way, there is still a process for that, you know, so just because they did it the wrong way, doesn't mean we do it the wrong way. There's a process for it.

Let the process play out. That's why that process is there so that they can say, no, I'm sorry, you didn't follow X, Y, and Z. And so you don't get citizenship.

[Lilin Lavin]
And, you know, you explain it to people and they still continue to do things. I agree with the now you can't come back for X amount of years. And then if you come back again, I understand when you break the rules, there are consequences.

As much as I don't always like the way things are done, that's just the way it has to be because realistically, you know, you can't just fix everything for everyone. I wish that was the way it worked, but you can't. You know, even a country like ours has only so many resources and only so much capability to process things.

And so there has to be some sort of process that's followed and that should apply equally to everyone. And I know it doesn't, but in my mind it should. And that's what I would like to just see.

Can we just have a uniform immigration policy that allows people to go through a process, a process that makes sense in order to come here and become citizens, valuable members of our society? Our society is a mixed, pluralistic, diverse society, and that's what makes it great.

[Tommy Lavin]
That's what makes us strong.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. And learning how to do what we do and work together and disagree, but disagree respectfully. The things that we have seemingly forgotten how to do productively.

And that's what helps us to go back to those roots is by bringing in people that help us to remember what it is that we've been trying to do, who we are, where we came from, the very dream that this country was built on.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yeah. So...

[Lilin Lavin]
Okay. I think I way vented a whole lot here. I'm just frustrated because this is going to hurt so many people and it is hurting our democracy, which is already very frail.

Fragile at this state. Yeah. And it makes me stressed.

I have kids. It makes me really scared for the future. I have grandkids in the future.

It makes me afraid for them and for other people because I don't know what kind of world they're going to be walking into. And I don't know what it is that we can do. All I know is we have the right to vote.

We have the right to speak up. We have the right to go to legislators in states where we can to present legislation by going through that process to get it put on a voting platform. So there are things we can do and we can run for office.

If you're able to run for office, run for office. Do it intelligently. Don't use the same ugly tactics that the GOP is using, but intelligently attack them on the face of it.

Call out the lies. Call out the bull. These are things we can do.

And if you're not looking to run, do that anyway. Call out lies. And don't just be rude because it's not going to get anywhere at all.

Are you sure that's true? Where are you getting that information? Can you share some of your sources?

How do you know that that's the case? Challenge things in an intellectual way that even the people that have presented it to you maybe look at it. Even if they don't change their position, make them have to actually look at what it is that they're saying.

They often will not agree and just back down because you've called them on it. They're going to often react in a way that protects what they've claimed because you're married to it in a way. You don't want to look stupid or bad.

But the less you do make people look stupid intentionally, and I know that I've done it. I do it. The drive is strong.

I do try to challenge things in a meaningful way, even if it does hurt their feelings. I'm not trying to often, usually. I definitely do.

But it doesn't help. And I'm not helping when I do that. And I know that.

And I'm trying to work on that. I recognize it. But if we call it out and we say, this is not actual facts.

These are not the things that are happening. Here's the other side of it. Here's what I'm seeing.

Help me understand what you're seeing. Where did you find that? We have to work to call it out because it's getting out of hand.

[Tommy Lavin]
That it is. It absolutely is. And so, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I mean, I'm not sure where people's minds are at with this. And again, for people that don't live in Texas, it might not be as high of a priority or maybe not as much top of mind. That's probably a better way to say it.

It might not be as much top of mind. But for those of us that do, it definitely is. It is disturbing to watch your state fall into the type of chaos that we're starting to see and really hear.

It was really surprising to me. The other night when we were sitting on the couch and our daughter was like, are we going into civil war? Because that's what they're talking about in the UK.

And specifically about Texas. And I was like, no, we're not in a civil war. But you could tell she was actually worried.

And that was disturbing in of itself.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. And as parents, it's a hard place to come at things from because you want to be honest, but at the same time, you want to be realistic. You want to be considerate of their feelings.

And you're not an expert. I'm not an expert on this stuff. I don't think most people are experts on this stuff.

None of us have seen a civil war in our country. So what I was able to say is there are concerning things happening right now. And yes, people tend to fall in line with things and become part of a mob mentality.

That's a nature that humanity has. So yeah, you want to pay attention to what's happening, but don't let it absorb your entire life. Don't let it become the thing that you do every morning, every afternoon, every evening.

It's natural to be anxious. So that's what I'm going to share with you guys, too. Don't let it take over, but be mindful, be aware.

And if you start seeing things that are concerning, take the proper healthy steps to address that. And I know that doesn't always for people dealing with law enforcement is sometimes scary. People don't feel trust there for a lot of the community.

I get that.

[Tommy Lavin]
Yep.

[Lilin Lavin]
For very valid reasons. Very valid reasons. And I'm not telling you to go against that gut instinct if that's the gut instinct you have, but we have to be very careful that we don't also become part of this problem.

Fall into this mob mentality and then go off of our worst impulses and react because that is, I feel like, part of what the driving force behind some of this is.

[Tommy Lavin]
I am. Definitely what they're wanting to see.

[Lilin Lavin]
Yeah. So don't freak out. Don't panic.

We still have a country that's functioning. We are not in the throes of a civil war at this point in time, but people are doing concerning, very very irresponsible things right now and feeding the worst aspect of our society.

[Tommy Lavin]
And I do think the country is split. It's definitely divided. It's divided, very tribalistic.

But yeah, I mean, we don't have soldiers in the street or anything like that.

[Lilin Lavin]
No, but folks, this is not new. Remember when we went through segregation, right? Remember those kids that had to walk into that white school for the first time when we desegregated?

Remember the things that went on for each phase that we went through as a society? It was uncomfortable. It was scary.

We were afraid that it would destroy everything that we'd built, but we didn't let that happen. It didn't happen. We've been here before.

So the Vietnam War happened. Everyone was divided. Desegregation happened.

Everyone was divided. Slavery ended. Everyone was divided.

That was a really big division. But these things, we worked through it. We let the common sense, intelligence kind of prevail, and we figured a way forward.

And I feel that we will do that again here. We just have to be careful not to play into the very real negative aspects and the individuals that are trying to play this up.

[Tommy Lavin]
Darrell Bock Well, with that, again, I think we could probably just, being from Texas, we could just talk about this forever. So I think that's probably a good place to sort of end this episode on. And wherever you're at, good morning, good evening, good night.

Hail Satan.