It’s been a long December, and there’s no reason to believe that next year will be calmer than the one we’ve just lived through. In 2024, Texans survived a surprise hurricane, scandals affecting politicians of both parties, and a reckoning with how power works in Texas. Here, in preparation for what’s to come, we look back on the events of the past year—many of them part of a chain of events likely to shape the future of our state, and much of the nation as a result. “Eagle Pass, the Site of a Tense Border Standoff, Has Become a ‘Movie Set’ ”When the humble city of Eagle Pass (population 28,186) became the site of Governor Greg Abbott’s standoff with the federal government—in which national guardsmen occupied the…