I was visiting relatives (nice liberal Democrats) recently who watch CNN. I wanted to scream at the TV when reporters talked about the "crisis" at the U.S-Mexico border. Watching mainstream media, it is entirely understandable why no one understands the situation.

I now spend most of my year in the desert 30 miles from Mexico, doing desert aid (e.g. water drops on migrant trails) and, this winter, covering protests against the #ContainerWall. Every time I think I...kinda?...understand the border dynamics, I learn something new that torques my previous assumptions. So, I don't blame people who are not immersed in this for not understanding it.

But the way issues are framed by MSM are almost designed to lead to a sense of panic or a sense that this is too complex to understand. It's the result of a mix of ideological preconceptions, lazy reporting and the demands of fast-paced, ad-supported, corporate-profit-driven media.

Just got back from this event. If I can make time tomorrow, I'll write up a short piece with photos. About two dozen people showed up. It was lovely, and also lovely to be there when it was warm for a change. It was cold in mid-December when we were all camped there.

The #ContainerWall is gone, but "they", whichever administration, will eventually try to build a more permanent wall across the San Rafael Valley and anywhere else they didn't get one up the first round.

This time, there is a big commitment to stopping them. They will need a bigger jail.

I'm learning more than I ever expected about the San Pedro River and have been spending tons of time in the area. Part of its headwaters is the SW side of the Huachuca Mountains, where the #ContainerWall blocked some of its seasonal tributaries.

It flows northward from Mexico, east of the Huachuca, Whetstone, Rincon and Santa Catalina mountains and then into the Gila River. From there, it flows in to Phoenix where it is never heard from again.