ROCKETRY:...FAA Comes Down Hard On SpaceX...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | It was the highlight of last April, a powerful rocket ship roaring off its launching pad in nearby Boca Chica here. Hundreds gathered where they could find space, along a county road and in sand dunes on the beach at South Padre Island.

Enjoy the memory.

It'll be a while before you see another blast-off.

About that, this excerpt from texastribune.org: [ . . .The Federal Aviation Administration completed its investigation into SpaceX’s Starship rocket test launch that self-destructed in April above the Texas coast and sent debris and sand raining down over sensitive habitat and communities nearby. The FAA said the company can’t begin launching again at Boca Chica in Cameron County, where the test launch took place, until it corrects "multiple root causes" that led to the structural failure of the launch pad deck foundation.

The FAA sent a letter to SpaceX Friday that said it completed its investigation and identified over 60 "corrective actions" that include redesigns of vehicle hardware "to prevent leaks and fires" and the launch pad "to increase its robustness" before another launch can be considered.

"The closure of the mishap investigation does not signal an immediate resumption of Starship launches at Boca Chica," the FAA said in a statement. The FAA wouldn’t release the full report, saying it contains proprietary data and information not available for public release.

People with SpaceX did not immediately respond to comment, but posted an update Thursday that said that the first flight test for its Starship rocket was a "critical step" and "provided numerous lessons learned that are directly contributing to several upgrades being made to both the vehicle and ground infrastructure to improve the probability of success on future Starship flights."

In April, SpaceX’s 400-foot-tall Starship spun in circles minutes into its flight, then self-destructed over the Gulf of Mexico after reaching a height of 24 miles. The launch sent debris, including chunks of concrete, into sensitive animal habitats nearby.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that a debris cloud, containing pulverized concrete, spread as far as 6.5 miles north of the launch pad. ]

It's not as if SpaceX had announced its next launch date, but there were words earlier from honcho Elon Musk that a launch would come fairly soon after the crazy April lift-off.

Well, it turns out Musk was being a little optimistic.

As things stand, it'll be a spell before another rocket blows up over Brownsville.

But we do wonder: Is the much-celebrated Mars Mission still on the table?...

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TRIALS:...At Week's End, Texas AG Paxton On The Ropes...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Week One of troubled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's much-watched trial in the Texas Senate ended today with witnesses for the prosecution again laying down a storyline that said Paxton was acting too much on behalf of his friends and not overly concerned about appearances or the law. 

The 60-year-old Paxton has been a familiar fixture in Texas law & order as the state's highest ranking legal official since he was first elected in November 2014. Paxton won reelection in 2018 and in 2022. That political success aside, well, things are not looking good for him now.

This from the statesman.com: [ Before trial, both sides were given 24 hours to present their case and to question the other sides' witnesses. Heading into next week, House prosecutors have 13 to 14 hours remaining, and for Paxton's side the available time is similar. Barring any lengthy delays, this could be over at the low end of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's two-to-three-week estimate. 

Through the trial's first four days - it began Tuesday because Monday was a holiday - the House called four witnesses. All four are former aides in the Attorney General's office who resigned or were fired after they made a whistleblower complaint against Paxton to the FBI in 2020.

The latest to testify was David Maxwell, a former Texas Ranger who served as the AG's law enforcement director. In testimony Friday, Maxwell said he cautioned Paxton about getting involved with Austin developer Nate Paul, who had requested Paxton's office to investigate the actions of law enforcement officials and a federal judge in a 2019 raid at his home.

Maxwell said Paul had a PowerPoint of six individuals he wanted the attorney general's office to investigate. "If we followed it we would have committed several federal crimes," Maxwell said.

There are eight whistleblowers in all. Given the time limitations for the House prosecutors, it remains to be seen if they will get to the remaining four. ]

The trial resumes Monday.

Paxton 's lawyer has said the suspended A.G. will not testify. That's a big question mark for all concerned, as some legal minds have opined that Paxton needs to personally defend himself. Plus, still to be considered are the details surrounding Paxton's super-close friendship with Paul that included Paul's hiring of a woman said to have been having an affair with the very-married Paxton.

Seated in the courtroom's gallery all week has been Paxton's wife, Angela (shown waving in photo above), a state senator representing a Dallas area constituency. She has been barred from voting in the case.

And there is still no word about any of this from Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Based on what we know and what we have heard during the trial, we'd say Paxton's ouster is a foregone conclusion....

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SUN SPORTS:...Horns Visit Bama In Tough Road Game...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | This early in the 2023 season, it would be almost too easy to go with recent history and say that perennial college football power Alabama will blow out the visiting Texas Longhorns in Saturday night's meeting, the second game of the season for both teams.

Oh, but this one has Upset City written all over it.

The somewhat experienced Horns come into the game after beating a woeful Rice Owls squad in Austin last weekend, 37-10. Alabama, behind QB Jalen Milroe (of Katy, Texas) whipped Middle Tennessee 56-7.

So, is it a competitive matchup we're getting, or what?

If you look at the first game of the 2023 season for both teams and compare the outcomes, they are extremely close side-by-side. Texas had 458 total yards, Alabama 431 yards. Texas QB Quinn Ewers threw 260 yards passing, Bama QB Jalen Milroe had 194 yards with a better completion rate, 63% and 72% respectively, though Ewers threw almost twice as many passes.

The two teams met last season in Austin, where Bama pulled out a surprisingly tough 20-19 victory.

Something tells us Saturday's game will be more wide-open, as both squads seem to be favoring pass over the run. Texas lost star running back Bijan Robinson to the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) and Bama lost QB Bryce Young to the Carolina Panthers.

The game is being played at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and broadcast by ESPN. (Note: There are problems with some of ESPN's Cable-TV providers, such as Spectrum. Hopefully, that will be resolved before kickoff.)

The Longhorns stroll into the game ranked #11 in the NCAA Division 1 rankings.

Alabama is at #3.

Texas needs this game. Once a premier football program, the Horns have fallen on hard times steadily since last winning the national championship in 2005, when Vince Young quarterbacked the team. It needs to beat Alabama.

Beating Rice last weekend and playing Wyoming next week won't cut it for the Horns faithful. Not yet another year, no.

Game time is 7:00 P.M. on ESPN and fuboTV.

Vegas line: Alabama -7.

The Sun prediction: Texas 28 Alabama 20...

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ROLLING BLACKOUTS:... Still An Option As Texas Fights Summer Heat...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Scorching July and the Dog Days of August may be gone, but Texans are still thisclose to losing their electricity at home from one moment to the next. Temperatures remain in the low-100-degree range across the state and demand has been taxing the state's electrical grid like never before.

Rolling blackouts remain on the table. Those are undertaken to allow Texans to share the pain of life without electrical power. How long they last is always anybody's guess.

Hope that one doesn't come your way today. And, sure, all you have to do is look out the window to see that the sun is still blazing, and that the day is going to be another moving sauna.

But here's a bit more info from a report at austinchronicle.com: [ Last night, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued its first energy emergency alert since 2021’s winter storm.

Record-breaking heat (read: demand) has caused Texans to almost expect weekly calls for voluntary conservation – yesterday around 6pm marked ERCOT’s 10th call since the summer began. But soon after, power reserves began dropping precipitously, and ERCOT issued a Level 2 emergency alert – the level right below rolling blackouts. Extreme heat has been extending the need for cranked AC longer into the evening as solar power simultaneously winds down, making that the tightest time for the grid; but this was much tighter than usual.

ERCOT has three levels of emergency alerts, and is supposed to call Level 1 first when supply and demand lines get too close. Level 1 allows ERCOT to pull all available energy resources, Level 2 allows it to pay large industrial customers like bitcoin miners to conserve energy, and Level 3 means rolling blackouts. ERCOT went straight to a Level 2 alert, skipping right over Level 1, around 7:30pm last night. Energy experts also pointed out that what got us through was partly battery storage, which provided a spike of 2,000 megawatts of power between 7 and 8pm. ]

Know this: Expect another "conservation alert" from your electricity provider later today.

Those have become a daily occurrence, I know.

But that's where we are.

Texas has its own electrical grid and is not hooked up to any of the country's other grids, and that includes neighboring states which, if we had the capability, would absolutely help the situation when the need for additional power arises.

Mexico is always another option...

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SUN SPORTS:...Lions Beat Super Bowl Champs in NFL Opener...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Those Lions. Man, those Lions. Is this the same professional football team that's been sucking the air out of bummed-out Detroit for - what? - more than 10/12 years? Used to be late-night comedians would tell you that the Edsel and mediocrity were born in Detroit.

Well, last night the Lions knocked-off the defending National Football League champion Kansas City Chiefs - in Kansas City!

(Disclaimer: I was at P.F. Chang's in West McAllen for dinner with my lovely galpal Laura, so I missed this game on TV.)

This from usatoday.com: [ Jared Goff, the Lions quarterback, who didn’t play a lick in preseason, pretty much picked up where he left off from his 2022 Pro Bowl effort, passing for 253 yards and a TD while effectively protecting the ball.

Chiefs defense: The unit was without All-Pro DT Chris Jones, his ongoing holdout landing him at an Arrowhead Stadium suite to watch the action, and suspended DE Charles Omenihu, one of the team’s primary offseason signings. Nevertheless, K.C. held up fairly well, surrendering just two touchdowns.

AFC hopefuls: No better outcome for title aspirants like the Jets, Bills, Bengals, Ravens, Jaguars and a few others than watching the champs stumble out of the blocks in what promises to be a hypercompetitive conference.

Lions rookies: They didn’t necessarily take over the game, but you wouldn’t expect players making their professional debuts to do as much. Still, RB Jahmyr Gibbs (60 yards on nine touches), TE Sam LaPorta (5 catches, 39 yards) and DB Brian Branch (50-yard pick-six) all flashed the ability that projects them to be big-time contributors. And presumably Branch, who exited the game before the fourth quarter with cramping, will be OK for Week 2.

1-0 start for Detroit: Now in his third season, head coach Dan Campbell won his opener for the first time. The Lions started 0-10-1 in 2021 and 1-6 last year prior to strong finishes but could finally be on the way to their first NFC North crown in club history.

0-1 start for Kansas City: Patrick Mahomes lost in Week 1 for the first time since becoming the Chiefs’ QB1 in 2018. It may not seem like a big deal, but the ramifications could be huge for a team seeking to become the first to win back-to-back Lombardi Trophies in 19 years. Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, roughly half the teams that win their openers make the playoffs, while teams that start 0-1 qualify for postseason about a quarter of the time. Prior to Thursday, the Chiefs had won their last eight season debuts overall. ]

It's onto Sunday for the rest of the NFL schedule.

Dallas is in New York to lose big to the NY Giants. Game is set to begin at 7:00 PM.

Go Jets!!!...

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SUN SPOTS:...Buoys In Brownsville Resacas?...

 

STAFF REPORT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | No, Maria, Texas Gov. Abbott is not installing buoys in Brownsville resacas to entertain local dummies. They have more than enough comedy relief from the heat with steady updates on that long-running crusade to get even the cheapest bus stop shelters for the city's damned.

But, hey, ready for a sundown dip? I know you are.

Look at you. You look drained, exhausted.

This horrible summer is on its way out, however.

We're buoyed by that...

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[Editor's Note: SUN SPOTS is an occasional feature in which we sort of shine the old flashlight on interesting tidbits or photos. Sometimes we have fun with it and sometimes it's just part of the daily drag of writing news...]

BUOYS:...Appeals Court Sides By Abbott...For Now...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

EAGLE PASS, Texas | The buoys stay in the picture. At least for now. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott got his stay on a lower federal court ruling ordering him to remove his buoys from the Rio Grande.

The earlier ruling would have forced Abbott to move the barrier from the middle of the river to the northern banks, Texas territory.

This from CBSnews.com: [ At the request of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued an administrative stay of Wednesday's ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra while the appeals process plays out.

Ezra had issued a preliminary injunction directing Texas officials to remove the floating border barriers from the middle of the Rio Grande by Sept. 15, at the state's own expense. He also prohibited the state from setting up similar structures in the middle of the Rio Grande.

Thursday's stay will remain in place until the appeals court issues its own ruling on the merits of Texas' request for the lower court ruling to be suspended. ]

The Cheeto-colored buoys were strung along a stretch of the river south of this small border town last June and quickly earned the ire of federal officials and the Mexican government. The U.S. said it violated a treaty with Mexico, which called the buoys an "inhumane" measure aimed at injuring migrants.

There was no word on when a final ruling will come...

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GUILTY:...Trump Flunky Peter Navarro Convicted...

 

STAFF REPORT

McALLEN, Texas | Brash Trump minion Peter Navarro, shown in photo above, became the second aide to be convicted of failing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The verdict came this afternoon after a short trial.

Navarro served as a White House trade adviser under Trump and later promoted the Republican’s baseless claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election he lost.

Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was the first. Bannon was convicted of two counts and was sentenced to four months behind bars, though he has been free pending appeal. Judge Amit Mehta scheduled Navarro's sentencing for Jan. 12. He was convicted in Washington's federal courthouse of two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress, both punishable by up to a year behind bars.

Prosecutors said Navarro acted as if he were "above the law" when he defied a subpoena for documents and a deposition from the House Jan. 6 committee.

Navarro stood by his claim that he had executive privilege... 

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TEXAS POLITICS:...Easy Rider Gonzalez Going After Republican Slacker Ted Cruz...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas | Get to know Mark Gonzalez. Yes, he just resigned as district attorney for Nueces County, but that was because he didn't want to play the "rigged" Republican games, which means Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, wanted Gonzalez gone.

It's an intriguing story about a spirited, educated Chicano who isn't done.

He just declared his candidacy for U.S. Senator, for a shot at Texas Senator Ted Cruz's job. The initial salvo: shots at Cruz's tone-deaf Cancun vacation during the state's frozen winter crisis two years ago. Campaign videos he has issued to the press take the same harsh tack against the state's junior senator. That's his way.

This from dailykos.com: [ Gonzalez, a Democrat who has spent the last seven years as one of Texas' most prominent progressive prosecutors, unexpectedly announced Tuesday that he was joining the March Democratic primary to later take on Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Gonzalez, who had to quit his current post because of the state's resign-to-run law, joins a nomination contest that includes Rep. Colin Allred and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez. A May runoff would take place if no one wins a majority of the vote in the first round.

Gonzalez, a criminal defense attorney who touted himself as a "Mexican biker lawyer covered in tattoos," first won office in a tight 2016 race even as Donald Trump was narrowly carrying his South Texas community, which includes Corpus Christi. Soon after, he began to attract national attention.

In 2018, he was the subject of a Politico profile in which the writer noted that he belonged to the Calaveras, a group that touts itself as a charity biker organization but that the state classifies as a gang. "At least once last year, he had to explain to a police officer who pulled him over for speeding that he would come up in his system as a known gang member - and, full disclosure, that he was also the county’s district attorney," the profile writer wrote.

Gonzalez never apologizes.

"I try to find a bit of balance," he has said. "How do I carry this office with responsibility and honor and distinguish it, but not lose who I am being this tattooed, Hispanic, Calaveras, criminal-defense guy who grew up in a small town?" 

Gonzalez defied critics by pulling off a 51-49 reelection win in 2020 as Trump was taking Nueces County 51-48, which prompted conservatives to instead try to remove him from office without an election. Local Republicans filed a petition in January that, among other things, alleged he'd failed to properly oversee his office and tried to win grant money by dismissing cases. (The petition originally also blasted him for joining four other Texas district attorneys in refusing to prosecute abortion cases, but the argument was later dropped since there were no instances of such cases coming before the county.)

Gonzalez responded to the New York Times, "We’re dismissing cases because it’s the right thing to do." ]

But it was that ceaseless drumbeat of politically-motivated criticism from county Republicans that eventually angered and then inspired Gonzalez to take the fight a step higher - into statewide politics, against a guy he's never liked.

His district attorney term (he won his first election in 2015 and a reelection in 2020) was supposed to end on Dec. 31, 2024, next year. Gonzalez enters the race with plenty of unknowns, a key one being whether he can raise the sort of big money needed to wage a believable campaign and not simply be one more name on the ballot.

He has the fighting spirit and the harsh political lingo of the day.

The unanswered questions are many, but he does have the motivation...and a motorcycle...

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PRO BALL:...Chiefs-Lions Kickoff NFL Season...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | The hunt for the coveted Lombardi Trophy begins tonight. That would be the National Football League and its weekly roll to next year's Super Bowl. Thursday Night Football brings you a clash between the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs and the said-to-be-rising Detroit Lions.

We're picking the Chiefs.

The Lions finished 9-8 last season, good enough for 2nd place in the NFC North division.

Kansas City is a 4 1/2-point favorite going into the game - but that dropped from 6 1/2 points almost immediately after touted receiver Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee to close out the week’s final practice session. It appears Kelce will be a game-time decision tonight.

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes should do well. A year ago, the Lions had the second-worst passing defense in football by yards per play.

Oh, and it’s a pretty good matchup for the running game too - the Lions allowed 5.22 yards per carry last season. On the other side of the ball, the Lions finished fourth in total yards last season.

It's not quite the marquee game, but it is the season's kick-off contest.

The Vegas line: Chiefs 4.5

The Sun pick: Chiefs 31, Lions 20

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MEXICO:...Southern Neighbor To Get 1st Female President...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

MATAMOROS, Mexico | Mexico cracking the political glass ceiling for women? Mexico, and not the supposedly more-advanced United States of America, the home of the brave and the land of the free? Well, yeah. Mexico's a happening place these days.

It will elect its first woman president next year.

Bank it.

That's the ruling party's (Morena) candidate in photo above. Her name is Claudia Sheinbaum.

This from politico.com: [ The former mayor of Mexico City will be the dominant ruling party’s presidential candidate, moving the country closer to electing its first female president next year.

The decision driven by polls of Morena party members means that Claudia Sheinbaum will run as the party’s candidate in the June election. Mexico’s constitution bars outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador from a second six-year term.

Morena national council president Alfonso Durazo said Sheinbaum beat former Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard by double figures in five party surveys.

Sheinbaum is a close ally of the popular López Obrador and as Morena’s candidate she will enjoy a distinct advantage in June.

". . .I’m excited," Sheinbaum said, thanking each of her competitors by name with the exception of Ebrard who was not present. "I feel very proud, very honored" to have been part of this movement since its inception.

Last week, a broad opposition coalition selected female lawmaker Xóchitl Gálvez as its candidate. ]

Sheinbaum, who is Jewish, was hit with the criticism earlier this year that she is not Mexican enough, but she fielded that deftly by saying, "I am more Mexican than menudo."

She's a do'er and a toughie.

The odds of winning the Mexican presidency are definitely in her favor, says this observer...

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BORDER:...Federal Judge Tells Abbott To Remove Buoys...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Well, they didn't stick around long. We speak of those Cheeto-colored buoys Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set up in the Rio Grande near the city of Eagle Pass to keep migrants out of the Lone Star State. A federal judge has ordered them moved away from the middle of the river.

This from The Associated Press: [ . . .A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Texas to move a large floating barrier to the bank of the Rio Grande after protests from the U.S. and Mexican governments over Republican Gov. Abbott’s latest tactic to stop migrants from crossing America’s southern border.

The not-all-that-surprising decision by U.S. District Judge David Ezra is a victory for President Joe Biden’s administration, which sued after Texas put the wrecking ball-sized buoys on the water in early July as part of a sprawling border security mission known as Operation Lone Star. The judge said the state must move the barrier by Sept. 15.

The barrier threatens provisions of a treaty between U.S. and Mexico, wrote Ezra, who also cast doubt on its effectiveness.

"The State of Texas did not present any credible evidence that the buoy barrier as installed has significantly curtailed illegal immigration across the Rio Grande River," Ezra wrote.

Abbott said Texas would appeal. ]

Judge Ezra said a little bit more, as quoted in a report published by the Washington Examiner: [ "Defendants and anyone working on their behalf are enjoined and hereby prohibited from building new or placing additional buoys, blockades, or structures of any kind in the Rio Grande River pending final judgment in this matter," Ezra wrote.

"Defendants shall, by September 15, reposition, at Defendants’ expense, and in coordination with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, all buoys, anchors, and other related materials composing the ... floating barrier placed by Texas in the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas to the bank of the Rio Grande on the Texas side of the river," he added. ]

Republican Border Mogul Abbott can appeal from here to Kingdom Come but those buoys will not return. There's this thing called international politics and Abbott is a loser there. The U.S. will honor Mexico's request and Abbott can lump it, is what the judge is telling him.

Boy, this was short-lived.

Those lame-ass buoys were installed only weeks ago.

It's just added proof that Abbott's Border Madness has been a miserable failure...

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SUN MOVIES:..."The Lover"...

CAMERON COUNTY:...Lose The Hats & Mustaches, Boys...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Can we lose the hats and mustaches? That would be a big improvement in law enforcement around here. Put a badge on a local dude and he thinks he's Wyatt Earp. But it doesn't work. As with expensive suits & ties, the Mexican male just can't pull it off. They look awkwardly lost, as if dressed by some assimilation warrior.

The feller you see in photo above is Cameron County sheriff's candidate Jesus Rosas Jr. (shown in photo above and at his desk at work below).

He is likely an okay guy. His law enforcement experience is notable.

But that "look" blows it. Why not simply look "professional." You know clean-cut, shaved and no dumb cowboy hat. What is this, Night of The Vato Rodeo?

We're agonizing about which candidate we may support for this job. Incumbent Sheriff Eric Garza has his flaws and problems, but nothing scandalous. We're leaning in his direction. But he, too, has that Border Vaquero image in his head. Lose the dumb hat!

This is something wildly peculiar as a Rio Grande Valley offering to area voters. Candidates do seem to want to separate themselves on issues and manner of campaigning, but they dress like slobs. Weight (an excess of pounds) tends to get in the way, we know. That and a lack of or graying hair. Hats on men look stupid in 2023. Cowboy hats even more if you're not some actual ranch hand out in West Texas, where the hat is utilitarian and not just for looks.

So far, the only Cameron County candidate not going the Pancho Pistolas route is Ronnie Saenz, but we're early in the campaigning and he may yet get over to Walmart and plunk down $15/$20 for a cheap hat.

The mustache says what?

Gillette, the maker of razor blades, says a mustache is "a great way to show a little personality via your face." Eh. The thin mustaches look like pencil art and the thick ones like those ugly big, fat caterpillars. Over the upper lip, they look like misplaced armpit hair. Adult men of the mid-1800s did it better, and that era is where mustaches should remain. In the Valley, they are as common as fat bellies. That is not necessarily a good thing. Public officials should clean up their act, it says here.

Even Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra (see photo below) fell for that hat & 'stache look.

The word in the streets and cantinas here is that Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz set the mustache in vogue here almost a decade ago. He rarely wears a cowboy hat, but that wolverine-lookalike mustache he sports is straight out of GQ Magazine.

We're not going to harp too much about this, but we will say that we're normally more impressed with public officials and politicians who are not fashion moochers, who have the inner strength to simply be themselves.

Longshot sheriff's candidate Jesus Rosas Jr looks weird in his bald head and mustache, as would most bald men out for mustaches.

That may or may not explain the cowboy hat.

But if it does, that means he has issues with himself - and voters will nose that out pronto...

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FAT CITY:...Scatterbrained Broads For Trump...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | So, now that it looks as if oft-indicted Donald J. Trump will be the Republican Party's saddled horse in the 2024 presidential election race, well, who's in line to serve as his dummy vice president?

Mike Pence again? Naaaaaaaaah. Too boring.

Sara Huckabee Sanders, the Republican governor of Arkansas? Nope. Too ugly.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the candidate sensation of the moment? Never. Too dark.

Then we found this at rollingstone.com: [ At some point in the near future, Trump is going to have to pick a 2024 running mate and would-be VP, and while we now know that this specific job includes responsibilities like "being okay with the boss calling you a pussy," "rolling with the punches when the boss’s supporters threaten to hang you," and "understanding that, from time to time, the boss will blame you for his insurrections," there are, somehow, still people who actually want it. Badly!

Rolling Stone magazine reports that conservative nightmares Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake are currently in a "death race" to be named Trump's 2024 VP, a job that we again must emphasize involves working for a guy who thinks nothing of siccing his blood-thirsty followers on individuals he’s mad at. 

While the women have kept it civil in public, the outlet reports, "behind the scenes, the two view one another with intense distrust and disdain, each seeing the other as direct competition for Trump’s political affections," according to several people familiar with the matter. Viewing Lake as a direct threat for the gig, Greene has reportedly "gone beyond simple attempts to raise her own profile in the ongoing Trump veepstakes," and has recently taken to “trash-talking” the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate to "to others in the MAGA elite, political circles, and conservative media, multiple." (Last spring, People magazine revealed that in an effort to win the VP nod, Lake had practically moved into Mar-a-Lago, and was spending more time there than Melania Trump, a.k.a. the ex-president’s wife.) ]

Both of these chicks are ditzy as all get-out.

We say Trump will pick some dude (like the one in the photo at left), because, well, he has shown himself to be a person so weak and lame inside that he always wants to take it out on another man. That's his powerplay. Those who know him know it.

Kari Lake is damaged goods. She lost her last election for governor last November and is said to be considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by flighty Kyrsten Sinema, the one who left the Democratic Party earlier this year and went Independent.

High-neck Congresswoman Taylor Greene is a Georgia snake. Her accomplishments in the House are exactly zero, but she has the skewed brain cells to always be able to come up with some dumbass inanity and have the entire country laugh at her. As Veep, she would drive Trump nuts, even more than he is at present.

But we would most certainly love to see these two broads in a political catfight.

Wait, no, better would be a real bitch-slapping, hair-pulling fist fight...

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS:...Proud Boys Tough Guy Gets 22 Years In Prison...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Everybody knows exactly what is wrong with our republic. But every now and then, something unfolds just right. Like yesterday, when the tough-talking leader of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection got his upbraiding in court.

Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, the 39-year-old rebel shown in photo above, looked up at the federal judge to hear him say the next 22 years of his life will be spent behind bars.

Yes, he gambled on revolution and lost. As The Eagles sang, "every form of refuge has its price."

This from axios.com: [ Tarrio's sentencing caps one of the highest-profile prosecutions related to the Capitol riot, and his is the longest sentence handed down in the Jan. 6 cases. The previous highest sentencing record related to Jan. 6 was held by Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in May.

Tarrio, from Miami, was found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy related to Jan. 6, alongside other Proud Boys members. Prosecutors had sought a 33-year sentence for him. Tarrio wasn't at the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot because he was arrested days earlier for vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church in D.C. in 2020.

However, prosecutors have argued that Tarrio maintained command over Proud Boys members after his arrest and cheered on the group as its members stormed the Capitol. Prosecutors also noted Tarrio took credit for the riot on behalf of the group.

"No organization put more boots on the ground at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, than the Proud Boys, and they were at the forefront of every major breach of the Capitol's defenses, leading the on-the-ground efforts to storm the seat of government," said Matthew Graves, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, in a statement.

"The leaders of the Proud Boys and the leaders of the Oath Keepers, who conspired before, during, and after the siege of the Capitol to use force against their own government to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, have now been held accountable." ]

It was a steady string of victories in court by the dogged federal prosecutors, although the FBI is still looking for others who may not have led but who participated in the day's vandalism of the Capitol Building.

Most have begged for leniency in court, some have cried, and some have invoked children and family as reasons to stay out of prison, but judges have for the most part been tough on these outlaws.

The crazy other part of all this is that more than one who received a prison sentence has said they firmly believe Donald J. Trump will pardon them if he gets elected president next year.

Good luck with that, boys...

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MONEY:...Mexico's Humble Peso Rises...Hurts Citizens...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

MATAMOROS, Mexico | Sending money to family in Mexico? Good for you, but that dollar is not worth as much to them as it was, say, a year ago. The exchange rate today is 17.35 pesos to one dollar, and it has dropped below 17 pesos several times this summer.

The news is bad for Mexicans.

Millions of dollars make it south of the border on payday every week, as Mexicans working in the U.S. forward those remittances to Mom and the wife and kids without fail. It is part of the country's economy, amounting to billions on an annual basis.

This excerpt from the Los Angeles Times about a time (two-plus years ago) when things were better: [ But that was before the dawn of the "super-peso," as the Mexican currency has been dubbed since steadily gaining 18% on the dollar during the last 12 months.

The peso’s emergence as one of the world’s mightiest currencies has prompted boasts from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. But there has been no celebration among the millions of Mexicans who rely on steady remittances. ]

A weaker dollar means fewer pesos to buy livestock, food, gasoline, home construction supplies, appliances and other necessities, or pay for celebratory quinceañeras, marriages and funerals.

It is one of those good & bad stories, for while Mexico can boast that its currency is gaining, its citizens are the ones also paying a price.

Last Spring, the exchange rate was at 20.11 pesos for every dollar. In 2021, it was 20.29 pesos for every one dollar. In 2020, it was 21.48.

The $100 you sent in 2020 got your relatives 2,148 pesos.

With today's exchange rate, those same $100 gets them only 1,735 pesos.

It may not seem like much, but it is a meaningful devaluation...

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TRIALS:...Republican A.G. Paxton Loses Round One...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It started this morning with a loss for embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He's being impeached, as pretty much all of you know. At least, you should know. The 60-year-old Paxton has not been a good boy.

His Republican pals in the Texas Legislature want him gone.

Today was Day One of his trial in the Texas Senate.

This from dailybeast.com: [ Paxton was dealt a major blow on the first day of his impeachment trial, with the state’s Republican-majority Senate refusing to throw out any of the 20 articles of impeachment brought against him.

Paxton filed a pretrial motion to have his charges thrown out before proceedings began, requiring senators to hold a vote today. Those votes gave the first indication of where senators stood ahead of trial, and the results didn’t bode well for Paxton, who’s accused of using his office to call in special favors for a big-bucks donor.

The most support a motion received was 10 out of 30 state senators - well short of the required majority vote needed, despite 19 senators being Republicans like Paxton.

The votes mean Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial will continue as scheduled. House impeachment managers, who gave their opening statements today, are trying to convince at least 21 senators that Paxton should be removed from office. ]

Present at the public whipping was Paxton's wife, Angela, a state senator, herself. She, however, was just another curious onlooker as she has been barred from voting on her husband's fate.

No comment came on the day's proceedings from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

His deafening silence on the matter has been read as indicating no support for Paxton...

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TACO TUESDAY:...Bellying Up To The Salad Bar...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | What does it take for a friend to block you on Facebook? We're hip to the roiling of the abdominal gases, but we were rather surprised when the age-old blogger Jerry McHale pushed us off his FB page after we left a smarmy comment about the dude you see in that photo above.

His name is Abel somebody, an obscure constable somewhere within the bottomless abyss of Cameron County constables. (Editor's Note: In earlier version of this post, we had him in Port Isabel and not in Brownsville; a keen-eyed reader corrected us.)

Anyway, El Jerry had posted the photo with the caption that said Abel was "seeking reelection". We amended that to say Abel should be "seeking weight reduction" and there we went, quickly shunned aside over that little nothing.

Later, in a text message, El Jerry sent us an explanation, of sorts: He said we were "undermining" his agenda.  

We deduced that Abelardo was paying For-Hire Blogger McHale to post good news and things about him, like that he'd soon be up for National Constable of The Decade. The amended caption we wrote perhaps sent Abel on some Border Tizzy of the sort only minor politicians can ever comprehend. You think?

I know. Who cares?

But it quickly became a prime candidate for Taco Tuesday, our weekly feature to do with the minutiae of "Life In This Rio Grande Valley".

We would have loved to be able to tell you who Abel's opponent is in his reelection, but we passed on wasting our time looking for that info online. We'll keep tabs on El Jerry's voltaic blog. Sooner, rather than later, he'll identify Abel's nemesis and start bashing him. Then we'll know.

Yes, the cheap drill we've known for all these Blog Years around here. Ho Hum, indeed.

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What's the latest from New Republican Laura E, Cisneros? Anything? She threw herself whole-hog into the upcoming 34th Congressional District 2024 race and then...vanished. We have spent some time looking around for any and all info that may have come from her camp (does she even have a camp?). Nothing. Like the Big Nada.

Miss Cisneros was a Democrat only a few weeks back.

But now she's with the party out to bring a revolution to our streets, to our schools, to our border, to our colleges (watch out TSC!), to our elections, to our damned way of living. I know. It's a helluva reach for this woman, who is reportedly an oncologist (one who diagnoses and treats tumors, cancerous too)

I dunno. I look at her and I see a woman more the image of someone good at baking pies.

Politics? Never in a million years would I have guessed that Laura E. Cisneros knew much about our Congress. Quick, Laura, how many members in the House of Representatives?

Yeah.

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Any news on Brownsville's Eternal Promise of building shelters for poor passengers along its many bus routes?

No.

Okay. Bus shelters, like the notorious Border Wall, remain nothing more than a political wedge issue in town, one always there to be pulled out of the hat by chortling-behind-the-scene bloggers and all those Bozos at City Hall.

Meanwhile, the sun blisters, the air-conditioned buses roll, and the poor riders perspire like Pachuco-beaten dogs...

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Former City Commissioner Ben Neece has not said one word about rumors he is about to make a trek up the local 10-foot-tall educational mountain and seek a seat on the fan-cooled Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees. To bring you facts, we checked with both the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and the Texas Bar.

Nothing there.

There was a spark of sorts when another Brownsville blogger blogging from (get this!) cornpone Iowa posted something about TSC board power Tony Zavaleta about to "kick ass," so we surmised that Tony was moving campus earth and speed bumps to bring Ben aboard as easily and with as little effort as possible.

You know, like how he got Delia Saenz on the Board.

Yeah.

Come on, Ben. As a local celebrity, you're bigger than Tony!...

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Boy, we could go on and on and on and on with Taco Tuesday material. But we're late for breakfast at my favorite restaurant, so we'll clip it here.

Tune in next Tuesday when you'll hear All-World Constable Abel rag us for bringing up that McHale Blog dust-up, which really wasn't about some miles-wide dust devil but about some Valley dude looking too chubby for a law enforcement uniform.

We're forever critical, but that's what Taco Tuesday is about here at The Sun.

Keep on chooglin'...

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DER BORDER WALL: - Mexico Installs Piece of The Berlin Wall At U.S. Border...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | A few days back, we made mention that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's next move against the influx of migrants across the Rio Grande might include buying the Berlin Wall for erection along the state's border with Mexico.

Well, Mexico did it first.

This from The Associated Press: [ As the U.S. government built its latest stretch of border wall, Mexico made a statement of its own by laying remains of the Berlin Wall a few steps away in Tijuana. The 3-ton pockmarked, gray concrete slab sits between a bullring, a lighthouse and the border wall, which extends into the Pacific Ocean.

"May this be a lesson to build a society that knocks down walls and builds bridges," reads the inscription below the towering Cold War relic, attributed to Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero and titled, "A World Without Walls."

For Caballero, like many of Tijuana’s 2 million residents, the U.S. wall is personal and political, a part of the city’s fabric and a fact of life. She considers herself a migrant, having moved from the southern Mexico city of Oaxaca when she was 2 with her mother, who fled "the vicious cycle of poverty, physical abuse and illiteracy."

The installation opened Aug. 13 at a ceremony with Caballero and Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s former foreign secretary who is now a leading presidential candidate. ]

Apparently, the fabled and hated Berlin Wall separating East from West Germany, has been sold in pieces, to collectors, business owners and foreign countries. As something to breed conversation, it is being said.

Well, that ugly fence can now be said to be part of America's Border Wall fiasco, even if it is on the Mexican side.

We keep wondering what Republican Gov. Abbott will do next, now that his buoys and razor wire fencing have been a dismal failure.

Will he place a bid for sections of the Great Wall of China?

Hey, Abbott's acting as if anything and everything is on the table to stop the massive migrant invasion that isn't even an invasion...

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DECISIONS, 2024:...Why Cascos Needed To Run...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | It gave Mayra Flores the only Republican Primary win she needed. She will be the GOP's nominee in that race against Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in November, 2024. Miss Flores will thank her God, as is her way, but she should also thank fellow Republican Carlos Cascos, who bowed out of the race late last week.

We still say all it would have taken for Cascos to beat her would have been one debate.

A battle between Cascos and Gonzalez would have been the one for the 34th Congressional District's constituency. There is, we dare say, a miles-wide difference between Cascos, a former Cameron County Judge and ex-Texas Secretary of State, and any of the declared Republican candidates for that post.

But he decided against it.

As much as we grudgingly accepted his decision (for selfish Journalism reasons), we must say that Mr. Cascos absolutely knows he could have defeated Miss Flores. It is the Republican Party's national candidate apparatus that felled him, as he readily acknowledges that Miss Flores would be the one getting the millions in campaign funds needed to challenge for the post.

Mayra Flores became the darling of the Republican National Committee after beating Democrat Dan Sanchez for the job once held by Congressman Fil Vela in that Special Election in the Summer of 2022.

I mean, The New York Times and other major publications noted the historical significance of her victory in what was correctly characterized as "Democrat Country". Her term was short-lived: six months in which she fell into the job and fully believed she'd have a while. It was over when the November General Election came around and Democrat Vicente Gonzalez took her seat her by more than 10,000 votes.

It's, of course, a Big Sky from which candidates reach for and grab reasons for seeking a political post. Often, it is all about money. In his case, Carlos Cascos had the name recognition and the political cache to seriously go after not just Mayra Flores but also the incumbent. We'll never know how it all would have unfolded, but, from a journalist's perspective, it would have been a wildly-contested push & shove, edge & nudge, lead & follow horse race around the oval track.

In the world of news, we always like to say that some stories have legs; that is, they stick around for longer than one or two or three news cycles. This is one of those stories. We've never been big fans of Mayra Flores and her hothead style of politicking. Her manner of public discourse is rough and elementary, cliches and platitudes being her strength. Mr. Cascos would have unmasked her in any debate, early-on even. She's zirconia-in-the-rough, a fakery-favoring public servant in tight jeans and knee-high leather boots.

The contrast between them would have been readily discernible.

We'll await the calling of the horses to the gate as the year ends. Somehow, a contest pitting candidates Flores, unknown Mauro Garza of Raymondville and even more-unknown Laura E. Cisneros of Brownsville doesn't register on the political Richter Scale. No, Virginia, the needle isn't moving.

What's left for us is to find out whether Mr. Cascos will endorse and support his party's nominee against entrenched Gonzalez.

Something tells us his answer would not surprise many...

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