{"product_id":"no-84","title":"No. 84","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"mt-14 mb-24 relative\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"px-4 sm:px-0 body-copy-frame\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"mt-14 mb-24 relative\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"px-4 sm:px-0 body-copy-frame\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c!-- wp:paragraph --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"first-selection\"\u003eDoth the Lone Star State\u003c\/span\u003e protest too much? There might not be much daylight between the Texan ideal of self-sufficiency and the cliché held by outsiders that the once independent republic is provincial and inward-looking. As is often the case, however, such stereotypes are negative images of a repressed truth. Violence against migrants, cattle fetishism, extractivism of both the hydrocarbon and digital varieties—everything that happens in Texas is a reflection of the whole world, which of course means that everything happening across the globe is reflected by something within state lines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- \/wp:paragraph --\u003e \u003c!-- wp:paragraph --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHence “Global Texas”: an issue with concerns ranging from beef to oil to bigness domestic and abroad. A state given to superlatives has welcomed the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, alongside other Silicon Valley exiles seeking refuge from perceived persecution in Commiefornia for their heterodoxies—and, as \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/the-texan-ideology-turner\"\u003eFred Turner\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e points out, cheap land and electricity for the data centers required for the world economy’s turn to artificial intelligence. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/rocket-racket-bullington\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eJoseph Bullington\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e reports from the Gulf Coast, where Musk’s SpaceX company is transforming the wildlife refuges of the Lower Rio Grande Valley into testing sites for the rockets it promises will one day terraform Mars. Indeed, the region has become a hub for tech endeavors, among them the Taiwanese firms with long histories of labor arbitrage, as \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/democracy-chips-antonio-solis\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eGabriel Antonio Solis\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e writes, now hoping to take advantage of the maquiladoras, those Mexican factories just over the border. As electronics are shipped north, natural gas is sent south; \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/terminal-velocity-mendoza\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/terminal-velocity-mendoza\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eNatalia Mendoza\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e traces the pipelines running fossil fuels from the Permian Basin in Texas to Mexican ports on the Gulf of California.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- \/wp:paragraph --\u003e \u003c!-- wp:paragraph --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts waters disrupted by growing tanker traffic, a tragic victim of the natural gas boom is the endangered blue whale, the largest mammal that has ever existed. Its cetaceous cousins across the Pacific may prove the future of red meat consumption in Japan, where \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/outbursts\/against-wagyu-levi-king\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/outbursts\/against-wagyu-levi-king\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDylan Levi King\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/a\u003etakes a stand for the American steak and against the oleaginous Wagyu favored by tourists and the elderly. Elsewhere in ungulates, \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/stories\/four-mammals-cottrell\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ePatrick Cottrell\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e gives us a tale of, among other things, the Sichuan takin. \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/outbursts\/rodeo-clowns-cowie\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/outbursts\/rodeo-clowns-cowie\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSam Cowie\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e considers Brazil’s beef magnates and cowboy Bolsonaristas stanning the American South—an affection shared by the unionists of Northern Ireland, as \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/country-fried-ulster-eagleton\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/country-fried-ulster-eagleton\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eOliver Eagleton\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e shows, where some of the largest numbers of gun owners, evangelicals, and (religious) segregationists in Europe reside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- \/wp:paragraph --\u003e \u003c!-- wp:paragraph --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eErika Kirk, the peroxide widow of American conservatism, is reportedly keen on bringing Turning Point to Ulster. Par for the course, perhaps, in terms of cultural exports for the American imperium. Maybe we’ll franchise our legal designation of an actually nonexistent “Antifa” as terrorists next, per the recent Texas court decision chronicled by \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/the-invention-of-antifa-fadiman\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eLauren Fadiman\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e; our growing proclivity for exorcisms observed by \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/territorial-spirits-laycock\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eJoseph P. Laycock\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e; or the beaver-themed, jumbo-sized gas station chain Buc-ee’s, detested in detail by \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/outbursts\/leave-it-to-beaver-wilder\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/outbursts\/leave-it-to-beaver-wilder\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eForrest Wilder\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e. For those looking for something slightly more dignified, if equally mammoth, consider David Adickes’s two-story-tall busts of the U.S. presidents, the series ending with Barack Obama. With Adickes having passed recently, the Houston-based estate is seeking to place the sculptures, featured here in an exhibit by \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/odds-and-ends\/nobodaddies-norman-wilson\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/odds-and-ends\/nobodaddies-norman-wilson\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eAndrew Norman Wilson\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e. A regional park would be nice, Wilson writes, but how many of those will we have once all is a launchpad for Musk’s extraterrestrial aspirations?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- \/wp:paragraph --\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 136\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The Baffler","offers":[{"title":"Print Issue","offer_id":45173856829463,"sku":"Baf84Print","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook (E-Reader)","offer_id":45173856862231,"sku":"Baf84MOBI","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"eBook (Tablet)","offer_id":45173856894999,"sku":"Baf84EPUB","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0377\/7585\/files\/b84-cover-mockup.png?v=1780366382","url":"https:\/\/store.thebaffler.com\/products\/no-84","provider":"The Baffler ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}