By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...The price of sliced bread is holding, as the price of gasoline. Eggs have settled into an affordable price. Who knows about fruits and vegetables, but Americans should be glad they at least have plenty of stuff at their favorite grocery stores.
I see no empty shelves.
I see nice discount coupons on everyday products. My favorite razor blades (Schick) had a $4 discount off the regular $9.79 price at my H-E-B store yesterday. Gasoline was under $3 at Valero, and even less at membership-driven Costco and Sam's Club.
Things are not all that bad out there.
Politicians will find an issue favorable to their campaigns. It's to be expected. It's our side and their side, so separating the masses is the game. You buy into it if you're of a political bent; you won't if you're not.
America is in another presidential year and, well, either the country's fine or its failing and falling apart.
It's neither - it's where it's always been, people working and people paying bills.
Republican Donald Trump calls us a failed country. Really? Has he been elsewhere in the world lately? Failing is not us. Hell, if it wasn't for our shitty politics, we'd be happy as larks. The price of milk and diapers is doable, say Moms from coast to coast.
Beer is readily available, although I wonder why a 6-pack is now $11 or $12, although that is still wildly cheaper than a bottle at a bar. I buy my bottles of Shiraz wine for between $9 and $30, depending on my mood and the occasion for drinking it. My hair trim was $23 the other day, but it was a nice, professional trim.
When I go to Banana Republic for my shirts, I ask for an get a free "box" of drinking water. Not a plastic bottle, but a small carton of the sort milk producers use. It's a perk for having the BR credit card, and I avail myself of it every time I shop at the store at McAllen's La Plaza Mall.
Yes, it's the little things that make a house a home, as John Denver once sang.
America remains our home.
There will be bitching, but it's our home...and it's actually a nice home offering everything we need...
-30-
Jumping into election news is a natural for me, me, the guy who spent almost 30 years writing news for newspapers and magazines. Americans, however, get into it in an abstract way. They are not producers of news but consumers. The tale this election season is a serpentine saga of the best and worst of us. Stay with it. It crests on November 5th, although that does not in any way mean that things will be resolved...
ReplyDeleteMcDonald's now has a $5 burger meal. Too cool. As for Donald Trump, I'd accept a 10% tax increase to never hear from or about him again.
ReplyDeleteBut price of coffee at restaurants is out the roof!
DeleteCoffee $2 at Coffee Zone in Edinburg and $3.95 at Casa de la Abuela in McAllen!!!
DeleteThere are no bargains at any eatery offering waitress service. Not when you have to tip 20%!!!!
DeleteAnd worse than that, these waiters and waitresses get pissed when you leave less than 20%. This is still the valley, so, tops, I give them $2.
DeleteWhat I hate is that restaurants are now adding a fee if you use a credit card to pay. Eff that!!!
DeleteKamala talks about how great WE are.....Donald talks about how great HE is.
ReplyDeleteThe choice is clear America.
Trump has quite obviously moved on to plan B, which is to refute the results after Harris trounces him in November. This time, the nation will be ready. It's not going to work, despite the henchmen he has in various states. See ya, Cheeto Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThat's all he has left.
DeleteTrump at the border yesterday: "Allowing criminals to come in"
ReplyDeleteThat's rich coming from a criminal that has already been here.
DNC convention ended last night, but It's not over. Now we do our part and get to work making sure Democrats are elected up and down the ballot.
ReplyDeleteYes, sireeeee. Vote NO on Mayra Flores in District 34!!!
DeleteMayra who?
DeleteVicente Gonzalez whipped her by 11,000 votes in 2022. It will be double after this coming Blue Wave!!!!
DeleteDistrict 34 is Vicente's for the next 20 years!!!
DeleteIs Mayra even campaigning anymore?
DeleteOne of the things that made Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's speech particularly effective for TV/stream viewers is that she looked directly into the camera for almost all of the speech. Other politicians who spoke throughout the convention spent much more time looking at people in the arena and at the teleprompter. (Whitmer seemed to have memorized her speech, too, to minimize the amount of time she’d need to look at the teleprompter.)
ReplyDeleteI am so sick of the last name Trump
ReplyDeleteLike you got sick of the name "Montoya" in your hometown of Brownsville? ja ja ja ja
DeleteI just don't understand how Georgia Gov. Kemp can go from refusing Trump's obviously illegal demands back then to supporting him now. More than many, Kemp really does know who Trump is. ..... I don't get it.
ReplyDeleteTrumps downward spiral is sooo satisfying
ReplyDeleteWhere's Melania?
DeleteHave you seen his face? Dude's getting real old. I mean, are orange wrinkles in fashion, or what?
DeleteRFK Jr dropping out to support Trump. He was only propped up to help Trump in the first place because they thought the name "Kennedy" was enough to pull support away from the left, but when it turned out that his appeal to conspiracy theorists was not pulling support from the Democrats, but from Trump, they had to change plans.
ReplyDeleteRFK? LOL!!! Wacko nutjob.
DeleteEndorse Trump? So what? RFK had no one supporting his dumbass campaign!!!
DeleteHow on Earth could the endorsement of a brain worm possibly help the GOP?
DeleteIt is important for Republicans to reject the crazy and gas lighting criminal. It is how the Republican party can stop being the party of hissy fits and gimmicks.
ReplyDeleteJUAN IN A MILLION!!!
DeleteJUAN FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
DeleteJUAN IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER
DeleteJUAN OF A KIND
DeleteWhenever I hear anything about Georgia, I immediately think about corruption and Marjorie Taylor Greene. An unfair view perhaps, due to all the media attention. I hope that opinion changes for all the right reasons in November!!!
ReplyDeleteTrump hosting an Awards Gala for Jan. 6th insurrectionists at Mar-a-Lago. Just when you thought you had seen and heard it all.......
ReplyDeleteLarge number of them are behind bars! Just another political stunt. Useless
DeleteFaux News is a joke. Once Trump is no longer relevant their viewership is going to plummet.
ReplyDeleteFor the amount of shit that Donny shitzenpants talks about other people, he has the thinnest skin ever.. he's a spineless cowardly weasel who can't handle his own medicine. He acts like a 15-year-old smartass, then when someone gives him the business he acts like a 10-year-old crybaby..
ReplyDeleteRepublican JD Vance is such a doofus. The perfect running mate for Trump. that video of him at a Georgia donut shop showed him to be weird.
ReplyDeleteVote for adults in government, not full-grown babies.
ReplyDeleteVote Blue.
DeleteWhat's three and a half years? Donald Trump just admitted he "came up short" in the 2020 election. Was this a deliberate admission or a Trump verbal glitch? Also, Democrats had the convention week they were hoping for. Reaction and ratings are pouring in. The latest polls show Harris/Walz surging.
ReplyDeleteHarris/Walz will get a huge bump after the convention and another when Trump is sentenced for his 34 felony counts on September 18. You think he is a whiner now, just wait until he hears his sentences.
ReplyDeletepersonally, I can't wait.
DeleteNixon: A president who became a crook.
ReplyDeleteTrump: A crook who became a president.
GOP: Embraced both.
I’ve played on ball teams where everyone was a big home run threat. That’s what the democrats have. They’re stacked from top to bottom.
ReplyDeleteAge has crept up on the Republican Party. So visible in Trump, McConnell, Graham, Gingrich, etc., etc.
DeleteI’m so excited to cast my first vote ever for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Don’t let us down, history is being made here.
ReplyDeleteWhen even FOX News is starting to realize that Trump is losing it, he's toast.
ReplyDeleteTexas go blue !!! Save democracy
ReplyDeleteHe’s blaming the democrats for supposedly allowing immigrants committing crimes, I’m upset with Americans that commit crimes here and are allowed to still stand free on American soil after 34 felony convictions.
ReplyDeleteSee comment below at 3:10 PM
DeleteSay GOODNIGHT Trump and keep crying but QUIET it down, because: We're not going back.
ReplyDeleteAs a 71 year old, I haven't felt this much 'passion and hope' for the future for my children and grandchildren, in a while. Harris/Walz Team 2024
ReplyDeleteThe best political convention I’ve ever seen. I’m a 64 year old white male. She spoke from her heart, and it truly showed in her acceptance speech. It brought tears to my eyes. She reached out to everyone regardless of their party allegiance and that spoke volumes. A very powerful speech delivered with empathy. I hope Republicans tuned in because I was once a Republican, but no more.
ReplyDeleteInsurrectionists Awards Gala at Mar-a-Lago? Donald is sad and delusional, ready to crash and burn, only the money grab con in him will survive. it is all that the Don cares about.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Trump. Crime is out of control. Just look at New York. There's a dude who was convicted of 34 felonies there, and he's still walking the streets.
ReplyDeleteTrump cancels rallies as crowds shrink...When your enemy is destroying himself, don't interrupt.....
ReplyDeleteTrump, you're digging a hole for yourself. Keep digging!!!
DeleteEvery day he's more petty, more insecure, more unhinged, more psychotic. The videos of him waving to empty crowds make sense, but the fact that he has any voters at all should have Americans concerned about the role of corporate propaganda networks.
ReplyDeleteoriginally Trump was confusing ASYLUM seekers with "loonies in asylums" pouring over the border to get into US asylums. It was not Hannibal Lecter as cannibal joke, but his total misunderstanding of refugees seeking asylum.
ReplyDeleteOn RFK, Jr. dropping out and endorsing Trump: The end of the great Kennedy legacy with the final nail in the coffin by this fool of a family member. Sad
ReplyDeleteAnd don’t forget that abortion is still a juggernaut issue in the Democrat’s favor. That made the 2022 Red Tsunami more of a trickle.
ReplyDeleteRFK Jr.'s actions would be like Dr. King's son endorsing a white supremist.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get rid of FOX News propaganda channel once and for all!
ReplyDeleteI was disgusted and angered by the right-wing cruelty aimed at Tim Walz's son, Gus. Tim's son is beautiful and full of soul and joy, it's the way God made him, in pure love.
ReplyDeleteMAGA Republicans are heartless and useless.
Laura Ingraham of FOX News called Gus "weird." Then she deleted the dumb post. LOSER!!!
DeleteThey say Trump is fleeing to Venezuela after he loses the election in November. I'd like to see a reality show where MAGAS are tasked with traveling to Venezuela the same way a Venezuelan comes to the US including via the Darien Gap.
ReplyDeleteMaga volunteers?
There's still 70 something days left... he'll only continue to get worse... shows how much his family cares to let him keep embarrassing himself.
ReplyDeleteTrump family does not care about Trump.
DeleteKamala won't end Trump for good, that's the DOJ's job, and America will be so happy to see Kamala in the White House, and Trump in the BIG HOUSE, where he belongs!
ReplyDeleteThe Democrats simply didn't want RFK Jr - He just wants a cabinet position
ReplyDeleteI never felt safe for one second with Trump in the Whitehouse. He negligence with Covid alone—600,000 dead, bodies in freezer trucks, no TP, no paper towels, no masks, no Clorox wipes, government agencies unable to function, no one answering phones, no one working in offices, total lockdown and debilitating isolation. Too many Americans have forgotten his incompetence and cruelty. I have not.
ReplyDeleteI'm still registered as a Republican. I've not voted that way since George W. Bush. I'll never be a Trumplican. The Republican party is dead and cannot be resuscitated.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot stand to listen to Trump, JD Vance nor RFK Jr. Their voices are repulsive.
ReplyDeleteDonald still thinks lying alone will work, but this isn't 2016 when millions still thought he would "become Presidential.
ReplyDeleteThis act of his is worn out.
Has been for four years.
DeleteIs it just me or is anyone else going to be happy to never hear his voice or see his face ever again?
ReplyDeleteDonald Trump is crashing out ahead of schedule
ReplyDeleteKamala Harris hasn't even gotten a post-convention polling bounce out of the DNC in Chicago yet
trump is a waste of air and space. Vote Blue
ReplyDeleteI'll never forgive or forget what republicans did on January 6th
ReplyDeleteRepublicans in the Senate are terrified about November, and they are now under the impression that Donald Trump is going to cost them control of the chamber this year. This year’s election is the Republican Party’s last chance at regaining a majority until the 2030 elections - which they admitted earlier this year! And now that Trump’s campaign is taking down everything it touches, their last bit of hope has started to die.
ReplyDeleteRFK junior is a traitor. Treat him as such…Vote Blue and get the red out along with the orange.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans ragging on Kamala Harris for not being in any primary. Heck, Trump didn’t even participate in the primary debates for his Party.. maybe there should be a rule, if you don’t debate you can’t be on the ballot. Trump is scared, always been scared to debate actual smart individuals.. or individuals that will make him look foolish.
ReplyDeleteYou know Trump talks horribly about the USA - why aren’t more people outraged by this?! Our country WAS horrible under trump’s administration, it’s been a fight to get back to where we are now.
ReplyDeleteCan’t believe people actually think the trumpster cares about them or the country, wake up people
ReplyDelete