Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
LARA:...Donald Trump's Loud, Mouthy Daughter-In-Law In Line For Cushy Job...Co-Chair Of RNC...Son-In-Law Jared Kushner For Secretary Of State If Donald Wins?...Heh, Heh..
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...Rumors swirl that icky Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, would be up for the Secretary of State post in a second Trump presidency. Could be, eh? Kushner is married to Trump's darling daughter Ivanka and, well, did quite-well for himself as a senior White House advisor in Trump's first term.
Indeed, Kushner banked a cool $2 billion in money he received for unknown services from Saudi Arabia in the days before Trump left office in January, 2021.
Would that be expected? I mean, a Trump family member getting a cushy post.
Well, sure. Then there is Lara Trump, his high-necked daughter-in-law. She's the long-face wife of son Eric, said to be a TV producer, and now being openly postured as co-chair of the Republican National Committee by Trump, the ragged, racist party's 2024 presidential frontrunner.
The chairman would actually be Michael Whatley, current chair of the GOP in North Carolina. He is shown in photo below alongside Trump.
Both would replace Ronna McDaniel, a chairwoman not favored by Trump. She is 50 years old and perhaps not attractive enough for the lecherous Trump. But her worse trait is that Ronna is the niece of Trump-hater Mitt Romney, the Republican U.S. Senator from Utah.
There isn't much criticism for this plan out there, as it is being seen as business-as-usual for the ever-angling Trump. Well, maybe a little.
This from politico.com: [ Trump’s endorsement carries substantial weight among the 168 Republican National Committee members, who elect a new chair and co-chair.
Candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign responded to the endorsements Monday night, saying that Trump "is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."
"Under Donald Trump and current RNC leadership, Republicans lost elections in 2018, 2020, and 2022, and now the RNC is effectively bankrupt," Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney said in a statement, adding that Haley would push for everyone at the RNC to be fired. ]
Yeah, well, it's a wonderment historians of the future will explain in words often used in horror novels. The Republican Party has gone underground, as in now little more than off-white cockroaches doing their best to survive a coming ballot box Armageddon.
If the pundits are right, a monstrous Blue Wave in the upcoming November General Election will drown out much of the once-proud GOP, Trump's bloated carcass rising to ground level, to forever leave the playing field.
He could be in jail by then, or soon after.
Politics has been good to him...and to his immediate family. Lara Trump made waves a few months ago, when she threatened to seek a U.S. Senator's post in North Carolina. It is unclear which of the state's two Republican senators she was going to challenge - the mollusk Thom Tillis or the boring Ted Budd.
What she and Whatley portend is crystal clear. They will willingly and energetically do Trump's bidding. Oddly, current RNC Chair McDaniel had been doing that.
But impetuous Trump is that sort of Homo Sapien, the sort of dude with nothing to do but throw gas on roaring fires.
Still left for the crystal ball readers is the question of whether mouthy son Don Jr will find his way into a White House post this time around, if Trump wins the election. Same for second son Eric, husband of Lara Trump.
Hey, we're just throwing things out now.
Most of it is muddy and sticking to the walls, however...
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Monday, February 12, 2024
WAR:...Well-Armed Jews Still Killing Palestinians...October, 2023 Attack On Jewish Settlers Has Led To 28,000 Palestinians Dead...Americans Still Funding Israelis...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...Only the death toll changes in the ongoing Israeli invasion of Palestine. Jewish troops continue to rake the Gaza Strip unabated, overhead bombings destroying homes and buildings almost non-stop.
28,500 Palestinians have been killed so far.
This from a morning report at Le Monde, the French newspaper: [ Dozens of wounded people flocked to the Kuwaiti hospital in Rafah, the crossing point from Gaza to Egypt, in the early hours of Monday, February 12. Most of them were unconscious, bloodied and in shock after some of the heaviest bombings to hit this area since the war began on October 7, 2023. ]
Israel has waved-off concerns of genocide from the United Nations and the United States.
It began with the killing of Jewish settlers by Hamas rebels, a stunning surprise attack that merited a response, although many now wonder about Israel's continued assault. According to the U.N., most of the dead have been women and children.
The bad publicity has not bothered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has said the war will continue, even as he gets advice from American President Joe Biden to pull back. Netanyahu counters Hamas terrorists are still killing Israelis.
Should Israel halt its assault and stop the wanton killing?
That's the question on the minds of many Americans, President Biden included. Biden has counseled Israel on matters to do with war strategy and selective bombing. Instead, Israeli forces have swept into Gaza largely uncontested, assaults on cities undertaken as if by a monster lawnmower. Schools and hospitals have been bombed to the ground.
The paradox in power has been glaring, as Israel continues to use weaponry supplied by the United States. This, against lesser armament used by Palestinians.
The prospect of a ceasefire has again been mentioned, but Israel has not used the term, nor does it seem to have the desire to halt military operations.
It's a burr in the Biden Administration's saddle. Middle East unrest is something Biden does not need in the months ahead of the November General Election.
To that end, the American president plans a trip to Israel...
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Sunday, February 11, 2024
DISQUALIFIED:...Not Yet, But Perhaps Likely...Smart Money Is On The U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Donald Trump Out Of The Presidential Race...But...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...How much damage has Donald J. Trump done to America? Surely, you've read, seen and heard about most of it. A lawless president, an angry candidate, an indicted man wearing 91 felonies and four criminal cases like a horse collar around his neck.
Plus, there's much more.
We could write a 5,000-word article here and sort of cover it all, but we won't. No use trying, for now. There are still too many unanswered questions and legal action before we - or anyone else - goes there in a definitive way. It'll all come, gathered by some journalist writing for a major newspaper or a national magazine. Noted historians are taking copious notes.
Until then, we are left with yet another rather shallow report on action at the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices this week will consider that appeal (Republican Trump has until Monday to file it, however) of a ruling by that federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. that almost two weeks ago told Trump he was "not immune" from prosecution.
Hang on to your gasps. It could get silly. The High Court could rule in favor of Trump, is what the learned scholars and conservative pundits are writing in publications and saying on Cable-TV.
The facts surrounding Trump's political world are so well-known that a cursory listing tells the story. He was president from 2016 to January, 2021. He sought reelection in 2020 and lost to Democrat Joe Biden in November of that same year. While awaiting the transfer of power, Trump engaged in some wild wheeling & dealing in hopes of changing the results. He conspired to change the results in several states and even did it personally in a strange telephone call with the elections overseer in Georgia, where he asked the Georgia elections official to find him "11,800" votes so that he would overcome the defeat to Biden and claim the state's Electoral College votes.
For that, he was indicted in Georgia, where he presented himself for arraignment and where he still faces a trial. In New York, a judge is presently working on a sentence to do with massive business fraud. That rendering is expected soon. And that came after Trump saw another judge hand an $83 million judgment against him in a defamation trial connected to his rape conviction tied to an assault of magazine writer E. Jean Carroll some three decades ago at a Manhattan department store.
Still on the stove's burner, as well, is the government's case against him to do with his taking classified government documents after leaving the White House and haphazardly stashing them at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Trump has denied all charges and scoffed at court rulings.
A huge case rests on what Trump did and did not do during the U.S. Capitol riot of January 6, 2021 - the very day the U.S. Senate was certifying the vote results. That day, Trump treated the rioters to a hell-raising speech prosecutors say fueled the riot. If indeed the court accepts that the riot fits the definition of an "insurrection," then Trump is in deep doo-doo.
Trump has said he never ordered anyone to go vandalize the Capitol.
Maybe not.
But there are far too-many fat, cumulus clouds of smoke across the fruited plains for Americans to ignore. You could wonder about one or two or three things to do with his legal problems, but, well, again, there is just too much evidence. The government seems convinced of his guilt; his rabid MAGA followers fully-alive, but in total disbelief.
So, it will be up to the Supreme Court - six judges appointed by Republicans, three by Democrats.
As we noted, there is much writing about all of this out there.
From the current issue of the New York Review of Books: [ . . . The conservative majority of the Supreme Court have reached a point of no return. The law, no matter the diversions and claptrap of Trump's lawyers and the pundits, is crystal clear, on incontestable historical as well as originalist grounds. So are the facts of the case, which in any event the Supreme Court is powerless to review. The conservatives face a choice between disqualifying Trump or shredding the foundation of their judicial methodology.
But the choice is far more profound than the Court’s consistency. In 2000 it disgraced itself by manipulating the Fourteenth Amendment to produce Bush v. Gore, a ruling that changed the course of history and was later described by Justice Antonin Scalia, who concurred in it, this way: "As we say in Brooklyn, a piece of shit."
Now the Court must decide whether it will honor the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment and disqualify Donald Trump. If it does so, it may redeem in part the terrible judicial malpractice of 2000. If it does not, it will then trash the constitutional defense of democracy designed following slavery’s abolition; it will guarantee, at a minimum, political chaos no matter what the voters decide in November; and it will quite possibly pave the way for a man who has vowed that he will, if necessary, rescind the Constitution in order to impose a dictatorship of revenge. ]
The article is a wide-ranging one, covering a lot of the current goings-on with the Supreme Court and exactly where the 14th Amendment came in the wake of the American Civil War.
With all that's happened, is Donald J. Trump qualified to seek the presidency?
There's a lot of bad baggage there, much of which the public simply can't grasp and some which some voters may not care about.
The cases are before courts.
The battle away from there is between political parties. Trump's Republicans want him, and that's all there is to it. The federal government and the State of Georgia say he is still to be tried and answer for his deeds. Democrats say Trump is unqualified and a clear & present danger to our republic.
Yes, voters will likely have the last word in November. Ambitious legal acrobatics seem to be the norm these days. What looks clearcut isn't and that which offers a loophole is generally discovered by heady lawyers.
It's been more than 20 years since the infamous Bush/Gore ruling by the Supreme Court, one now seen as horrible reading of the law that handed Bush the presidency. Will the High Court get it right this time? It depends on your political leanings.
Trump has until tomorrow to file his longshot appeal of that "absolute immunity" contention he lost.
I hope he files.
Trump's histrionics has gone on too long...and it all needs to be resolved...
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Saturday, February 10, 2024
REPUBLICANS:...They're Out To Play "The Big Lie" Card... Coup, Baby, Coup...Will Not Accept Defeat In 2024...Elise Stefanik Is Sick Party's Poster Child...
McALLEN, Texas |...They tried in 2020 and they'll take it one step farther in 2024. Dry runs take on a certain look and that insurrection at the U.S. Capitol serves as a ready model for what's to come. The election will take place, only Republicans will not accept a defeat. Not in the presidential race.
America is staring at a wilder coup attempt.
We all keep reading about it, and it appears the message is settling-in. Nicely, I'd say. Perhaps that's what it means to always be ready to fight for our freedoms. Military veterans know of those occasional, ever-gnawing setbacks; this one will have to be dealt with accordingly.
When a Republican is being looked-at as a potential vice-president, well, we expect smart and useful dialogue, not talk of coups and political disarray. There's New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, for example. She's said to be at - or near - the top of reptilian Republican Donald J. Trump's second-banana list.
Is she up to the job? Maybe politically, but certainly not civilly.
This from newrepublic.com: [ Elise Stefanik (shown at left) is ready and willing to put Donald Trump before country and state. On Thursday, the MAGA lawmaker all but admitted she would definitely have done a coup and not certified the 2020 presidential election results on January 6 if she were in former Vice President Mike Pence’s shoes.
"Had you been vice president on January 6, 2021, what would you have done?" asked CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.
"I would not have done what Mike Pence did, I don’t think that was the right approach. I specifically stand by what I said on the House floor, and I stand by my statement, which was that there was unconstitutional overreach, there was unconstitutional overreach in states like Pennsylvania," Stefanik responded.
"I think it’s very important that we continue to stand up for the Constitution and have legal and secure elections, which we did not have in 2020, and tens of millions of Americans agree with me," she added. ]
As noted in the write-up, Stefanik's throwaway line of claiming to stand for the protection of the U.S. Constitution contradicts Pence’s own defense of his decision to certify the votes, effectively making Joe Biden the next president.
As Pence put it in an interview with the Des Moines Register, "By God’s grace, I did my duty that day. I had no right to overturn the election. And the American people deserve to know that the president asked me to choose him over keeping my oath to the Constitution, but I chose the Constitution. And I always will."
And it's not just Stefanik. Dozens of other Republicans - most all in Congress - have lined-up behind Trump's current campaign for the White House - even as he lugs four criminal cases and 91 felonies on his hefty back.
It's no longer an idle political threat.
Republicans are the lesser grouping in our national political contests. They know it. And they have little else to fight with at the ballot box. Noise and bellicose posturing is their game.
Fatty Stefanik, an unaccomplished, run-of-the-mill congressional hag up until now, has seen her profile grow in stature.
Putting out wild shit will do that in our stormy political climate...
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Friday, February 9, 2024
THE DEFENDANT:...Donald Trump And The U.S. Supreme Court..."Absolute Immunity?" ...A Legitimate Candidate?... Next Monday Will Tell...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...One up and it appears one down for Donald J. Trump at the U.S. Supreme Court. He seems to have won his fight to stay on the ballot in Colorado. Yesterday's wrangling at the nation's high court went mostly his way. The Supremes sort of sided with him.
There is no final ruling on that yet, but it's political peristalsis - the crap forcing itself down the country's intestines.
Next Monday brings something else for the 77-year-old Republican presidential candidate weathering storm after storm after storm. That's the deadline for any appeal Trump may lodge with the same court on that "absolute immunity" request he insists on but that was shot down by the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. last week. Shot down unanimously.
That ruling would seemingly clear the way for his insurrection trial, but would hold if the Supreme Court accepts the case. Word is it won't.
But, as all of us know, these are not normal times, and the court of last resort has been a bit squirrelly of late. This give & take with lawyers and those of the government this week on Colorado's desire to keep Trump off its ballot in the General Election has been anything but predictable.
The court hemmed & hawed, took commentary and posed questions. According to legal scholars and our best political pundits, Trump took the day. And, well, he thought so, too, issuing end-of-the-day comments that went to full victory. He'll stay on the Colorado ballot.
Those same learned observers aren't as sure about the immunity thing. Trumps insists on it; most say he's dreaming or hallucinating.
This from newsweek.com: [The next step is for Trump to seek review at the Court of Appeals ruling. The DC Circuit delayed the date when the case is official - the “mandate” - to Monday, February 12, giving Trump a chance to ask the Supreme Court to step in and put the DC Circuit’s opinion on hold.
The Supreme Court should decline the invitation and instead allow the trial to proceed. The country needs to know whether Trump is convicted of these crimes before the November election. ]
It's a bad helicopter ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon for the nation when its high-government legal matters drag on. Most law-abiding Americans might recall the pardon former President Gerald Ford gifted Richard M. Nixon following that Watergate break-in mess that saw him resign the presidency. Ford said he did it to put an end the country's "nightmare." It also kept Nixon out of jail.
Political games are one thing. Dances in our highest courts are quite something else. The nation cannot look away when our leaders are afforded either special treatment or seemingly liberal commentary and results. Trump is having his days in court. It's a slower-than-usual clock at the court of appeals and at the Supreme Court. Rulings take time.
And most Americans are largely okay with that, except in the case of Donald Trump. Or, we should say, in the many cases of Donald Trump.
Is the guy with four criminal cases and 91 felonies on his back eligible to seek the presidency or is he not. That's the simple question.
Answer based on constitutional law and be done with it.
This is the U.S. Supreme Court, not some lower court where rulings can and often go challenged and at times overturned. Deal with it. Americans can handle it if rulings arrive armed with standing and are explained, for the most part, to the general public's satisfaction.
Colorado took a stand against Trump, saying he was unworthy of seeking the presidency. Supreme Court justices, even the liberal ones, seem to believe otherwise. Fine.
That "absolute immunity" case brings something else altogether.
"Absolute immunity?"
Obscenity, we say.
No one is above the law. The charges against Trump are just that, charges. Get him to trial and let's resolve this mess. If a court or jury finds him not guilty, well, we'll handle that. If not, he should pay the price.
Drum the intro and cue the choir: "...No one is above the law."
Only, so far Trump is at arm's length of the law. The U.S. Supreme Court needs to sing the refrain...
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Thursday, February 8, 2024
MAYRA II:....Poised To Win "Super Tuesday" Republican Primary...Already Hungering For A Barroom Brawl Against Milquetoast Democrat Vicente Gonzalez...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...No contest. Republican darling Mayra Flores will take the March 5th, Super Tuesday, primary without a sweat to then barrel into the November General Election against dull incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez for the 34th Congressional District seat.
Bank it, plebes.
Any word going against that is pure folly. The 38-year-old Flores has been busy on the cable-TV circuit making her case and being taken seriously. None of her opponents even gets a nibble beyond the lowly, ever-crowing Brownsville blogs.
Are you ready?! Are you ready for the Flores vs. Gonzalez sequel, one we say will be a rough 15-round affair in a sun-baked ring right here in the magical Rio Grande Valley? Of course you are. You're a partisan looking for an advantage, for a quick lead and a convincing victory.
Gonzalez vs. Flores will be a close one, at this juncture too-close to call. Both of these candidates have the ready cash, Miss Flores said to have banked a cool $1 million for the campaign, while Gonzalez is counting on the national party to cover his advertising and travel bills.
The bureaucrat-minded Gonzalez has no opposition heading into the primary.
Miss Flores, born in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas along the excitable southern banks of the Rio Grande, drew three of the most lackluster, ill-equipped opponents to ever grace regional politics. They are, in no particular order of non-importance: Raymondville Nobody Mauro Garza, Brownsville medical-doctor-cum-politician Laura E. Cisneros and terribly inexperienced Gregory Kunkle of Harlingen.
Miss Flores in a massive Mt. Kilimanjaro landslide, it says here.
The country has seen two votes at this point - the Iowa caucus and the primary in New Hampshire.
On March 5th, a few more states will head for the polls. This year, fifteen states will vote on Super Tuesday: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. One territory, American Samoa, will also vote.
Lyin' Ted Cruz, the Republican junior U.S. senator from Texas, will also be on the ballot. His main rival in the General Election is former Tennessee Titans linebacker Colin Allred, a Democrat from up Dallas way. Cruz is favored to gain reelection.
It's the Flores vs. Gonzalez knock-down, drag-out that will titillate South Texas voters. Gonzalez, a mild-mannered, two-term congressman, is a rather genial dude not comfortable with raising Hell or his voice. Miss Flores brings Hellfire to her campaigns.
In the long, hot summer of 2022, she whipped uninspired, "I've Got Other Things To Do" Democrat Dan Sanchez to win former retiring Congressman Filemon Vela's seat in a special election. She lost to Gonzalez in the ensuing General Election that November by some 10,000 votes.
She bitched about voters not turning out after promising to ride a so-called Red Wave of Republican voter. The wave crested, but it arrived in Blue and favoring Vicente Gonzalez.
Still, all pundits know Mayra Flores is the roadside attraction in this race...Buckle-up...
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Wednesday, February 7, 2024
NOW THIS:...Appeals Court Drops Sledgehammer...Trump Is "Citizen Trump"...Nothing More, Nothing Less...Ruling Is "Nation-Destroying"...That's His Lame Opinion...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Oh, no. They are telling Donald Trump that he's just like you and me - a run-of-the-mill citizen and nothing more. No special place in the mob, nothing to set him apart.
That was the kinda-expected verdict from a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., when a three-judge panel of learned jurists told Trump his claim to "presidential immunity" for life was bullshit.
From motherjones.com: [ The long-awaited 57-page ruling is not full of fiery rhetoric. But it does contain a few sharp punches aimed at Trump’s contention that a president should possess king-like power. The court said Trump has no special standing as a former president:
For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.
Trump argued that potential prosecution in the future could chill presidential action. The court said, "No way." ]
Well, of course no way. That Trump sought a favorable ruling is all-Trump. We know he will go for it in such situations. What the Hell. You never know, right?
But he will appeal. That's his M.O. Take this one step further, to the U.S. Supreme Court. After getting word on the ruling, Trump let go his usual angry rant, damning it on social media and even labeling it "nation-destroying," as if...
It is not nation-destroying. It is not a bad ruling. It is not something most Americans will even wonder about; everybody except the 77-year-old Trump expected it. Fellow Republicans in the pro-Trump House of Representatives went ahead and filed a motion to erase everything connecting Trump with the U.S. Capitol Riot of January 6, 2021.
As if that would absolve him of blame and potential prosecution and jailing. Not since the extended family of Hippie Moses asked why he was being dispatched to Egypt has an answer been known way ahead of its arrival. Moses dilly-dallied, but he showed-up there at the end.
Trump, we fear, won't show up. He wants the Supreme Court to overturn the appeals court ruling, knowing, of course, that three of the associate justices are three he appointed and, well, what's so wrong with a little benevolent payback? I mean, it's a lifetime gig, and he fingered them for the job.
But the nation's high court may tell Trump it will stay out of it and let the lower court ruling stand, which would, we know, bring forth perhaps the wildest, most-profane attack ever endured by our once-hallowed Supreme Court. Donald Trump could not care less for our institutions; they are there either for him for or smashing.
We shall see.
Still, it is a breath of fresh air whenever you hear Trump taking a fall. He remains "above the law," only, little by little, his veneer dusts-up enough to dirty his ass. Lugging four criminal cases and facing 91 felonies would seem to be too much, as Moses might say about tremendous tasks. Yes, he's done it so far, however.
Not that we wish to compare him entirely to Good Ol' Moses, but we couldn't this to the pro football field and tell you Trump was facing a 95-yard drive late in the game with less than a minute to go and the refs out to throw penalty flags as if confetti. Why soil pro football, we say.
This morning, we are somewhat assuaged knowing Trump likely had a bad overnight. Did he even sleep? It has to wear on you. He's human, or so we are led to believe.
The appeals court ruling saying he is "Citizen Trump" will stand. Yes, the legal delays will continue until they don't. They do say the wheels of justice will turn slowly. Tomorrow is another day and that brings us closer to closure with this guy.
Now, let's proceed with the also-predictable trials...
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Tuesday, February 6, 2024
CONUNDRUM:...Well, Boys, It's Not A Republican Border ...It's Not A Democrat Border... It's The U.S. Border...House Of Representatives To Kill Border Bill...Trump Demands It...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...So close and, well, so far away. Dealings with the current slash and burn politics of the Mexican Border has been one runaway rollercoaster ride. The migrant problem is still there this morning. No, not as painted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott or any of his Republican colleagues, but it's there, as it has always been.
We're slogging through an election year, so therein lies the reason for our discontent.
The U.S. Senate has worked-up a bi-partisan legislative bill to sort of address the problem, only senior Republicans in both the Senate and the House of Representatives aren't interested in backing it. This, we should say, after months and months of hemming and hawing about the dangers of a "migrant invasion," in the words of sensationalism-minded Gov. Abbott.
Hell-o, walls.
As in Border Walls and other solutions to a political issue sort of at odds with reality. That migrant surge, according to the U.S. Border Patrol, is no longer a surge. Yet, the Mexican Border is living large as a danger to American society. Don't let the roofers kick you in the ass on their way south. Same for the landscaping guys and the restaurant workers.
We could use some brains these days on all things to do with the Mexican Border. This is a shank of American and Mexican land separated for the most part by a passive, often-shallow river. The migrants will come. They've always come.
That bill now headed for the House authored by a bi-partisan committee in the Senate seems a step in the right direction. The particulars are sort of bureaucratic from what we've heard, but, already, Republicans in the House say it is "dead on arrival."
Yeah, blame Donald Trump for that. He is running for president proudly lugging four criminal cases and indictments totaling 91 felonies...and he is telling Republicans to kill the bill. Passage of it, he says, would help Democrat Joe Biden. How's that, you ask. Well, Trump sees the border migration issue as something he can use against President Biden ahead of the election in November. If the problem is even alleviated just a bit, that would hurt him as give Biden a campaign win.
Of such high school hallway bullshit are we made these days.
Pass the damned bill and keep working on it.
Republicans do not have - and cannot stake - sole claim to the Mexican Border. Neither do Democrats. This is a U.S. responsibility issue, and it should be dealt with the country - not the political party - in mind. Sounds simple and factual, but then there's Trump. Always the liar, always the dude throwing the firecracker at the teacher.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is whole hog in. He has been relentless in coming up with wild solutions (. . .buoys, razor wire, taking over a municipal park in Eagle Pass, et., etc.) while forever parroting Trump's equally harsh solutions. Abbott even said he'd shoot migrants if only the federal government would not arrest him. It sounds dumb, but talk and word-selection is everything in politics.
Will the Republican-controlled House membership hold to its pro-Trump position on the proposed legislation?
Yes. Bank it.
Elections have consequences and winning the White House is getting and eating the cherry off the celebratory cake. Republicans want that victory against Biden in the November General Election. Taking a political position on an issue that affects the entire country is to be expected. Republicans know that without occupying the White House, well, they are the subservient party.
Moods in this country are always swaying back and forth between being united and being dumb.
Republicans are being dumb about the Mexican Border, but they know it. Their fight is for political ground and a little bad P.R. will be endured.
They even roasted one of their own on this bill. U.S. Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma was censured by his state Republican Party. He co-authored the Border Bill now before the House, the one Trump is against. Indeed, Trump has even damned Lankford, who, truth be told, is one of the more conservative senators in the upper chamber.
Trump even told reporters Lankford is one politician he has never endorsed.
Only, as is wont to happen with Trump, of course he did. The media quickly noted, published and broadcast reports and videos in which Trump wholeheartedly endorsed Lankford in his last campaign for reelection.
But that, too, is our political arena.
Fix the border...if it needs fixing. Get back to real work if it doesn't...
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Monday, February 5, 2024
JOE:...He's Begun Attacks On Donald Trump...The President Goes Hard After The Orange One...Blows Off Haley...Hey, Now...Jabs & Uppercuts...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...He's not talking about Nikki Haley. No, President Joe Biden knows who his target is and will be for the rest of the year. Democrat Biden has placed Donald Trump straight-up in his campaign crosshairs.
Look out below!
Fresh off his comfortable victory in the South Carolina Primary, Biden let go a salvo against troubled Republican Trump during a brief stop in Las Vegas yesterday.
This coverage from newsweek.com: [ . . .During a rally in Las Vegas' Historic Westside, Biden repeated a similar version of the speech, telling the crowd: "This is the guy, when he was in France, they asked him to go to an American cemetery in France for World War II, where Americans were buried. You know what he said? He said those folks were suckers and losers."
He added, raising his voice: "Suckers and losers the guy said." He then said he was glad he wasn't there. "Called my son and your sons and daughters who gave their lives in this country suckers and losers. That's how this guy thinks. Who the hell does he think he is?" he said.
Joe Biden also touted the results achieved by his administration during his years at the White House, citing the most recent jobs reports, which showed that the country added more than 350,000 jobs, and the resilience of the U.S. economy, which grew by 3.3 percent in the last quarter of 2023.
He added that 40,000 infrastructure projects are underway as the result of the bipartisan infrastructure bill he signed into law.
The 2024 presidential race is shaping up to be a likely rematch between Biden and Trump, who's currently leading the Republican primary polling with 74.2 percent of the vote as of February 4. He's ahead of his only standing rival Nikki Haley by a huge margin, as the former South Carolina governor currently had an estimated 17.5 percent of the vote.
Biden told the crowd of about 400 people gathered at Las Vegas' Historic Westside that "we'll make Donald Trump a loser again." ]
Yeah, nice horse-collar tackle of Trump there.
And Biden asking "What has Orange done for you?" is on-target. Oft-indicted Trump remains the front-runner in the GOP contest, even as Haley insists on staying in the primary fight. The larger majority of lame Republicans in Congress have now endorsed Trump as their nominee.
Biden will stay with the hammering. And he'll enjoy every minute of it.
What a big, fat target he has...
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Sunday, February 4, 2024
INVASION:...When Do We Exaggerate?...In Politics, it's Damned Near Always...Texas Gov. Abbott Loves The Word "Invasion"...It's Not That...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
EAGLE PASS, Texas |...Well, he hasn't yet "secured" the border. That would be one Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas shown in wheelchair in photo above. It is the story of the day for the Lone Star State.
Some truck and bus convoy has landed here to join him in stopping the surge of migrants wanting to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. Abbott is still calling it an "invasion," even as critics call him out on the term. The convoy's arrival rankled local feathers, with a few residents asking if the show was really needed.
In South Dakota, the Oglala Sioux, a Native American tribe, issued word that it was banning Gov. Kristi Noem, also a Republican, from its land in opposition to her decision to send the state's National Guard to help Abbott in Texas.
But it is an editorial in the conservative Wall Street Journal (owned by FOX's Rupert Murdoch) that is taking Abbott to task.
This excerpt via newsweek.com: [ The piece notes that Abbott has invoked a clause in the U.S. Constitution that allows Texas the "right to self-defense" in the event of an "invasion," which is how he and many other conservatives have characterized the recent surges in migrant crossings. The board criticized this as an inadvisable stretch, and also noted that congressional approval is needed to begin acting on the clause.
". . .The first question is whether migration, however anarchic, is an 'invasion.' Do conservatives really want to start stretching constitutional terms? Progressives will do that better," the piece argued. "And what power is Texas even trying to unlock? If migrants who have walked 1,000 miles qualify as an invading army, does Mr. Abbott intend to 'engage in War' on them?"
The WSJ editorial board went on to raise concerns that the situation at the border could potentially turn violent.
"But it isn't hard to imagine a more direct conflict emerging if Texas continues trying to box out the Border Patrol in Eagle Pass. Would Mr. Abbott or other officials defy a resulting court order and risk contempt? Would Mr. Biden invoke the Insurrection Act to have the military intervene?" ]
That last sentence says it all.
What is Abbott's end game - an actual confrontation with the U.S. military? He'd lose that fight.
He's staying with the opposition, however, and it is now clear that it's all a political charade. Yes, secure the border. But try doing it in an intelligent manner and not just some cheap political stunt.
The rest of the country is watching and waiting. And it's true that some 25 other Republican governors have sided by Abbott, but even that substantiates the belief that this is all just a game for Texas.
Just how much Abbott has spent on this, what with his busing of migrants to other cities, is the Big Unknown.
The number "millions" keeps being mentioned...
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Saturday, February 3, 2024
ELECTIONS:...Miniscule U. of H. Poll has Ted Cruz Ahead In Senate Reelection Contest... Dreaming Democrats Allred And Gutierrez Trailing Badly In Distant Dust...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...Can anyone here beat Ted Cruz? Twelve years into his U.S. Senate career, the 53-year-old Republican seems to be on his way to another, do-nothing six-year term. There are two totally-blue Democrats fighting for a shot at the annoying Cuban-American, but polls say their odds are long.
Those two would be former National Football League linebacker Colin Allred (Tennessee Titans) and State Rep. Roland Gutierrez.
Both have been granted their "Good luck!" by Beto O'Rourke, he of the Election Day losses to Ted and to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, perhaps the state's wildest Republican.
A recent University of Houston poll shows Cruz comfortably ahead of Allred and Gutierrez.
This from newsweek.com: [ Texas Senator Ted Cruz is on track to secure reelection in November against either of his top-polling Democratic rivals, according to a new University of Houston poll.
The survey found that, in a straight fight between Cruz and Rep. Colin Allred, the leading Democratic candidate, the Republican incumbent would win by nine points. Alternatively, if Cruz faces Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who is also running to be the Democratic nominee, he would secure victory by 10 points.
The University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs surveyed 1,500 Texan registered voters online between January 11 and January 24. They found that, if the Democrats select Allred, a member of the House of Representatives and former NFL player who has launched a Senate run, as their candidate for Cruz's seat, the GOP incumbent will win with 48 percent of the vote against 39 percent.
Alternatively, if the Democrats select Gutierrez, a current member of the Texas state Senate who has also announced his candidacy, Cruz will win by 48 percent against 38 percent. ]
I'm not a fan of polling, as the number of voters queried is often too small.
This one was an "online" poll, which makes it even more useless.
But it is a snapshot of the contest, so we'll look at it that way. Cruz is running in a heavily-Republican Red State. That sort of backs up the miniscule U. of H. poll.
Allred has been out and about, but has not campaigned in South Texas. Neither has Gutierrez. Ted Cruz has been up and down the border on those Republican Border Wall and Migrant Clown Shows.
Perhaps a poll closer to the November election would serve Texans best...
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Friday, February 2, 2024
BORDER BATTLE:...Texas Republican Says Colleagues Are Stupid...They're Fighting Actual Legislation Addressing The Mexican Border...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...They're still trying although we hesitate to use the word trying "mightily." It's more like kids playing football out in the street, although one of the teams keeps deflating the ball. It's called congressional politics on its face.
The face is getting bruised.
At burning issue is the Mexican Border. Republicans in the House of Representatives want it shut down, as in closed the damned door to migrants already. Democrats want that, too. But they'd rather be more thoughtful than simply wait on Republican Orange God Donald Trump to make the call on just how the mess will be addressed.
Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are crafting a legislative bill both sides say may be the answer (for the time being, but an answer). It's about "controlling" the border, they tell us, and that's the sticking point for the Trumpians, who want quick and decisive and painful action, like right now.
There's a convoy of truckers and buses headed for the border.
Republicans are eager to tag along, to ride the wave of discontentment, to saddle up and go stupid.
That's what Texas Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw, shown in photo above, is saying as he rags his colleagues for being political malcontents out to do soiled Trump's political ambitions bidding.
This from thehill.com: [ Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) swiped at his Republican colleagues for opposing a deal being crafted in the Senate that pairs border and migration policy changes with Ukraine aid before the text of the bill is out.
"The height of stupidity is having a strong opinion on something you know nothing about," Crenshaw said Thursday. "So, I don’t have a strong opinion on the bill because I haven’t seen it. Nobody has."
Crenshaw’s message is a major break from top House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). Johnson has said if reports about what is in the deal are true, it would be "dead on arrival" in the House.
"I’m extremely disappointed in the very strange maneuvering by many on the right to torpedo a potential border reform bill. That’s what we all ran on doing," Crenshaw continued. "If we have a bill that, on net, significantly decreases illegal immigration, and we sabotage that, that is inconsistent with what we told our voters we would do."
"It would be a pretty unacceptable dereliction of your duty," Crenshaw said. ]
He represents the conservative 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses land in far north Harris County (Houston) and runs northward to grab a bit of Montgomery County. He's actually likely going against many of his district's constituents who went with Trump in the 2020 election.
But, boys, something's gotta give, as Jack Nicholson might say about here.
The border is at present needy of all national publicity and that beast must be served. For shifty, lying Republicans, the Mexican border is Lassie/Trigger/Godzilla/Reptilicus all in one nifty political package.
The GOP fears losing the November General Election, so grabbing onto the Mexican Border and playing as if it's the equal of the War in Ukraine and Gaza.
It's not.
And if Republicans think it is, well, their own Dan Crenshaw wants a word with each of them...
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Thursday, February 1, 2024
FEAR AND LOATHING:... ...Migrant Hunting...Convoy Heads For Mexican Border... Hoped For 40,000 Truckers... Got 20 Cars & Three Buses...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...They left the east coast after a few days of online humping, word grindings that fueled an emotional response. Stopping the so-called migrant invasion at the Mexican Border; that was their mission. To cement their commitment, the loose-knit group named itself "God's Army."
Things have not gone well so far.
News reports have it that the convoy never really materialized, that some group members were fighting each other for leadership, that tires had been slashed at a motel where they spent the first night on the road and that at least one rider had been expelled and left to fend for himself on and East Texas highway.
But they're still headed for defenseless Eagle Pass, Texas, where migrants continue to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico and where Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has staked his claim to being El Grande De Coca-Cola.
It's all a silly mirage.
Some early arrivals even took to their websites online to report not seeing "any sort of invasion," a few angrily bitching at Texas "for lying to all of us."
The news website wired.com had sketchy info, but it was about problems the convoy people were encountering on the road and the apparent disinterest on the part of the "40,000 truckers" the group said would be joining the convoy.
Nothing was posted on the New York Times website, perhaps because editors there saw the early fizzle as the leading edge of a failing effort. The Associated Press posted a story about this yesterday, but we could not find it on its website today.
Still, the first few are on the road, seemingly headed for a rendezvous in Eagle Pass. What exactly they mean by "hunting migrants" is yet to be explained. Normally, state law enforcement and the Feds (U.S. Border Patrol) tolerate this sort of thing for a day or two before things get serious and the citizens are told to go home.
Much of the breathless chatter online about this has generous criticism, with commenters asking about the group's reasoning, their employment and mental status also questioned and some saying most truckers are hard at work and won't join this particular effort.
If anything, the convoy (if it ever grows to any meaningful size) will likely be a boon to highway gas stations, fast food eateries and cheap motels.
This much-ballyhooed citizen uprising, we say, will end with a whimper...
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Wednesday, January 31, 2024
INVASION:...Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Plays Excitable Word Games...Last Real "Invasion" Came in 1944...Migrants Not Armed...Mexican Cartels Don't Need The Cash...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...Did I miss something? What's that you say - we have an existential "invasion" at the Mexican border? Wow! I hadn't heard a single shot fired or any sort of anguished cries from the many wounded. Invasion?
Well, that's what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is selling to the state, nation and his Republican Party.
I must’ve missed the part where the U.S. is now at war with another country. I must’ve also missed the part where the "invasion" on the border is an armed invasion by an invading force at war with the U.S. Jeepers, creepers. Maybe I should go get my rifle, load it and have it at the ready.
By my rack, or the front door, yes.
But no, I saw nothing of the sort when I took a drive down to the Rio Grande, or border, the other day - a nice and cold Mid-January day full of calm and birds. Pieces of that fabled Border Wall can be seen here and there down in the dusty and tiny city of Hidalgo, where the international bridge connecting us with Reynosa, Mexico sees brisk motor and pedestrian traffic. It's just there, not imposing or holding back any sort of armed surge by migrants insisting on getting into this country.
Abbott, however, has riled up everybody.
The mood on the border seemed the same usual, that well-known people getting here and there mood. Shoppers from Mexico coming over and going back. That same scene we've had around here seemingly forever. Good Mexican people looking for quality goods at the grocery and department store and going back home, helping the local economy. No signs of fear or angst or anything brought on by an invasion on their faces.
Just locals being locals.
But Abbott has created another roadside attraction for bored Americans. A convoy of truckers is said to be on its way to seeing what I saw - nothing much, nothing even remotely dangerous. Oh, well. We live in a time of rage & ruin. Next: Tourist helicopter flyovers up and down the passive Rio Grande.
Our do-nothing Congress is said to be dealing with a plan for the southern border, one that has a few Republicans aboard but also one that has the overwhelming number of Republicans looking at it as a nonstarter, because it, they say, would make Democrat Joe Biden, the president, look as if he solved the silly migrant "invasion."
Oh, well. Again, oh, well.
The word "invasion," of course, is an easy-reach excitable term. It conjures quick fear and imagery of military attack. Thousands of heathens from Central and South America, from the Caribbean, at the gates, all of them tossing grenades at us from the southern banks of the Rio Grande. Armies of invaders, all out to kill every Texan in their way. Women in the murderous mobs, hair in a wild splay and knives in their hands. A full-frontal assault, yeah.
That's what Gov. Abbott sees in our boring border.
Invasion, he keeps crowing.
It's no invasion, one Dwight D. Eisenhower would tell him. It's just the latest wave of poor immigrants looking for a better life - our usual answer to cheap labor, crop-harvesting and restaurant work included.
Only, and this is the cheapest political rub, MAGA Republicans have demonized all immigrants not from Norway. The desire is obvious.
But no, don't go loading your rifles to join the defense against this "invasion." You'll sit there waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting on it...and it won't come...
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Tuesday, January 30, 2024
HAIL, MARY:...Hot, Scorching Political Shit Spells Doom And Gloom In America...Redneck Convoy To The Border..."Heil, Hitler!!!" Is What They Wish To Shout...
By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...You could look across the landscape and see it. I suppose you could, if that's what you're looking for. Internal unrest, we mean. A nation in turmoil. Reds against Blues. Antsy whites against everybody else. Politics on a tear unlike any seen in modern times. A congressman wishing for a return to dueling in the nation's capital.
What to make of it, Maria?
Is it the arrival of lasting Doom & Gloom, or is this just the now-popular politics of rage and ruin? Yes, and yes. The country is in for a long, harsh summer & winter of discontent. No one wants to go easy; no one wants peace and tranquility. It's us against you, Baby. Deal with it.
America has been too comfortable, they say. Others fear their ethnic group's demise, or at the very least a devaluation. Line it up for Uncle Sam. He's wondering what the Hell is going on, too.
The cold Russians are on record as saying they wish for an American Civil War, something perhaps rising from anger over that breakup of the Ol' Soviet Union they still blame on the United States.
Gorbachev, front center! Tell them the truth. Tell them the USSR over-reached, bankrupted itself with no help from Ronnie Reagan. Star Wars? A mirage.
Just like this crazy talk of a new civil war in the Lower 48.
I've been talking with some old pals from the World of Daily Journalism, asking about this civil war noise.
"I’m gonna get political here," said one. "A second American civil war would never happen as vast majority of Americans are too comfortable for war."
What would it take, however, I kept going. A few armed uprisings, maybe. Perhaps a shootout at the Mexican border in which 12 or so visiting Rednecks would be mailed back home in a casket. Sparks will spark, we agreed.
More to the point went the idea that civil war is only in the minds of our low-rent, self-serving politicians, that no serious, career-minded district manager for McDonald's is even thinking about it. Profit projections? Yes, that has their minds on the end-of-year accounting.
Texas seems ready to play Fort Sumter in this re-make of a time in America when it was mainly Whites dying for the cause. They seem to be interested. A massive convoy is said to be headed for the Mexican border to aid Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in his ongoing partisan silliness.
I've not caught the Invasion Fever and I live some 11 miles from the Rio Grande. Neither have most of my friends in town. We're busy with getting our asses to the breakfast restaurant, where we do discuss the political crap, but never to the point of ridiculousness.
Abbott has some fans.
Texas is still Red, led by Republicans at pretty much every meaningful level of government. They will talk tough and act it even more. It's in vogue, see. Republicans think they have America by the short hairs, that their time for staking claim to it all has come. It's now or never, as an on-the-commode Elvis would readily and gladly sing for them.
Hail, Mary?
Eh. For some of these flaming, fentanyl-fueled Republicans, the words would be: "Heil, Hitler!"
We'll keep tabs on the goings-on so you don't have to.
We know - what a waste of fucking time...
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