Since truth is my business and everyone is working overtime to obfuscate it, let me state very clearly for the record what happened Sunday: the United States fired chemical weapons over an international border at unarmed civilians, including children. It was not “staged.”
This was a huge diplomatic fuckup as well as a humanitarian travesty. It has also already caused the region to lose millions of dollars in business revenue and upset and angered its residents, many of whom pass back and forth between countries regularly.
I have covered the border region and its complexities for a decade and love it very much. This hurt us - border residents - deeply in ways people outside this community can’t understand. More to the point, though, this has hurt the United States in ways that Americans won’t
understand for some time. This was a massive failure not just of humanity, but of diplomacy. It was a massive failure, period. And for what?
This has also never happened before. That Washington Times story is weasel worded (at, not across the border) and relies on numbers it does not cite. There have been scattered cross-border incidents of U.S. agents shooting kids in Mexico and a 2013 incident with pepper spray...
...all of which I covered and activists tried to amplify, because that is a major violation of international law. No one paid attention. But these attacks? The barbed wire? Tear gas at kids in another country? That’s unprecedented, and it’s very fucking bad. Mexico is an ally and
a trading partner. And the U.S. just lost any upper hand it might have about respecting international borders. Huge, huge, massive fuckup.
And how do I know it was not staged? Because I was there the night before talking to members of the caravan. I saw they were making banners to present to border authorities, including all the little kids. They aren't "invaders," they are hungry and worn down humans who want peace
I don't want to put up photos of anyone without their consent because people have been used enough. But here is a sign from a vigil to support the caravan in Tijuana and some made by caravan members. There were little kids coloring when I got there. Lots of drawings of houses 
I saw this little kid painting the night before. You can still see the paint on her fingers in this Reuters photograph, if you look closely.
Side note: Here's why I don't rely on any numbers originating from @DHSgov or any affiliated department without proper citation or supporting evidence, such as names, places, dates, times, etc. washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/…
one more time: AT the border is not OVER the border. Using chemical agents on vulnerable people is inexcusable regardless, but Sunday was a major escalation.
