TRUMP ON ABORTION:...He's For The National Ban...That Denial He Issued Monday Was A Lie ...His Latest...Don't Fall For It...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...They all say he's lying again. Who? Donald J. Trump, Republican candidate for president. About what? His stance on abortion. Really? Yeah.

Big surprise.

The 77-year-old Trump yesterday took to the airwaves to say he is not all that interested in proffering a national ban on abortion as president; he will let the issue be decided by the states. Democrats are not buying it. Neither, likely, are American women who are strongly against any anti-abortion legislation.

But, as could expected, right-wing news media began painting Trump as a "moderate" on abortion, the stab at ridding him and his party of the one issue that will doom them in the November General Election.

This from newrepublic.com: [ . . .It’s a mirror image of how the right works. Usually, they love Trump because he takes hard-right positions and sticks it to the libs. The Muslim ban, the border talk, the "vermin" rhetoric, and so on. Fox News and other right-wing outlets promote and echo this extremism constantly.

But on Fox News this week, they’re going to be saluting Trump for doing the opposite. By the end of the week, I bet Fox hosts will have called Trump a brave "compromiser" and "moderate" and "conciliator" a couple hundred times. Can’t you just hear it? "This is real leadership. Donald Trump understands that there are competing strongly held views on this topic across the country, and he has selflessly put aside his own strongly held personal views to try to find a compromise position all Americans can live with. That is presidential leadership, my friends." ]

Hogwash.

Once a liberal Democrat in his home state of New York, Trump has morphed into a racist pro-right zealot of the first order. To believe him on anything is to believe in lies as a human virtue.

Donald J. Trump may not personally be against abortion, but he will play one to win The White House.

More lies on aisle 45...

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ECONOMY:...National Doing Okay...Republicans Not Falling In...Except for Texas Governor Greg Abbott...He Confirms It...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Greg Abbott perhaps has been spending too much time on the sun-parched Mexican border this past year. The 66-year-old Republican has pretty much made a name for himself as a tough anti-undocumented immigrant dude.

He's bought enough razor wire fencing to save the industry. He's placed large buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande to wall-off swimmers headed north. He's done more than enough, yet the border, he will tell you, is still not secure. Blame that on the Democrat in The White House - President Joe Biden.

But do credit Biden with a booming national economy, Abbott now says.

He went on right-wing TV on Sunday to say the country's economy is doing great thanks in large part to a great Texas economy.

What?! Republican Abbott confirmed the nation's economy is doing great under Democrat Biden?

Yes, he did. This as Republicans across the political spectrum are running campaigns on word that Americans are suffering the cost of groceries, housing, gasoline and education. Greg Abbott kinda says that's bunk - the U.S. economy is flying high.

This from thehill.com: [ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appeared to take credit for the boost in the U.S. economy, saying Sunday that the improvements across the country are because his state’s economy is "doing so well."

Fox News pressed Abbott on how the latest jobs report showed that the recent surge in migrants has helped increase payrolls and "keep a lid on consumer prices." He pushed back against that remark, instead saying the boost in the U.S. economy can be attributed to Texas and Texans, not immigrants. ]

Abbott went to on to say his tough stand at the Mexican border has led to a "72 percent" drop in illegal entry - a surprise in itself.

Does that mean the "invasion" he touted is over? How about a press conference on the topic?

Well, yes, Texas may be doing fine economically, but it still pales behind California's, plus the knock against Texas is that it leads in receipt of federal aid, like welfare that includes food stamps and housing vouchers.

We do applaud the governor for acknowledging the Biden Economy.

He didn't have to do it, and we suspect he has since received some curt email or text messages from one Donald J. Trump, the apparent Republican nominee for the November presidential election...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)"...

BROKE DON:...Republican Presidential Candidate Donald John Trump Gets Biting Nickname From Democrats...It May Apply...He's Dog-Pedaling...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | ...Lara Trump is not happy. She loves her father-in-law, and some people are hurting his feelings by calling him "Broke Don." It's a nickname, and the target, one Donald J. Trump, is somewhat familiar with the concept of dissing others by way of unflattering monikers.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was "Low Energy Jeb" to The Donald.

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was "Little Marco."

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina was "Horse face."

President Joe Biden is "Sleepy Joe."

We could go on, but you get the drift. Donald Trump loves applying nicknames, something, it is said, characterized as the work of small minds. I mean, he's a guy. A guy is going to hurt another guy with a dumbass nickname? He'll likely hurt a woman, but not a guy.

Now has come his daughter-in-law, the unattractive one married to his son, Eric, and the co-head of the Republican Party National Committee (thanks to Donald)

This from newsweek.com: [ Donald Trump's daughter-in-law is not a fan of a new nickname given to the former U.S. president.

Lara Trump lashed out at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for anointing her father-in-law as "Broke Don."

The Democrats have been trialling (testing) the new nickname for Donald Trump, who is facing hundreds of millions of dollars in legal bills amid his many lawsuits, by taking a leaf out of Trump's book with his infamous use of nicknames for his opponents. These have included referring to Biden as "Sleepy Joe" and calling Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary" during the 2016 presidential race.

Lara Trump (shown in photo above) slammed the new nickname for Donald Trump, claiming that her loud father-in-law is the master of monikers and is not in fact, facing financial trouble. Donald Trump has also denied he is having money problems.

"The reality is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris... they try to, usurp Donald Trump as the greatest marketer in the world with his naming of people [and] it doesn't work, it's ridiculous," she said during an appearance on Eric Bolling's The Balance show on NewsMax on Thursday.

". . . . And not only that, immediately after that they tried to name him "Broke Don," but he actually got $6 billion with the Truth Social site." ]

That last reference to Trump making $6 million off his Truth Social venture on Wall Street is a mirage, at least according to investment experts who note that its stock has been falling every day since it went public the other week.

So, "Broke Don," then?

Will it stick? Will it hurt the Fake Republican candidate in the November election.

No, and no.

It's just a childish nickname...like all of the ones Trump has affixed on his enemies...

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BOND, THAT BOND:...Step Up, Donald...Four Criminal Cases...Americans Deserve Some Answers...Hey, Maybe You Do Have A Defense...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...A resolution is in order. Years of alleged crime and the slow scheduling of charges and trials have us here, waiting on star-crossed Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's legal verdicts. Guilty or not guilty, that's what America want to hear at this point.

Trump seems to not want those trials, any of them.

An observer would be excused for thinking the man is guilty, as, well, an innocent man would be eager and willing to make his case before a judge or jury. Not 77-year-old Trump. He's fighting it with every last lawyer and breath. And it's wearing the country down. Our politics are wadded up and caught in Trump's trap, his roiling legal shenanigans a literal fishing net of the sort only a world-class Gloucester, Massachusetts fisherman would love.

That case he lost related to years and years of business fraud brought a verdict more than a month ago: $454 million judgment against him and his two sons, Don Jr and Eric. The elder Trump was supposed to post that entire amount in a bond if he headed to appeals court. He did, but the bond was reduced to $175 million, which a cheesy California company posted him last week.

It's under review, as they love to say in the National Football League.

News comes that the bond company has some problems. Of course it does. Everything Trump offers/touches comes with problems.

But then there's this via dailykos.com: [ Trump’s unconventional Bond supplier has some problems.  Primary among them being the lack of credible balance-sheet evidence, proving that Knight Specialty is "good for" the $175 Million IOU posted. NY law requires this credible evidence, which shows that Bond posted is, among other things, not more than 10% of the Bond Company’s available (liquid) capital assets.

Trump’s "white Knight" did not show this.

In their amended filing, they still leave much to be answered for, in terms of fiscal credibility:

1.)  The "balance sheet" numbers re-posted, amount to notes scribbled on a napkin.

2.)  The "balance sheet" numbers re-posted, have not been independently audited, and attested to as being accurate.

3.)  The "balance sheet" numbers re-posted, have numerous vague Liabilities and Obligations, that offset the likewise vague Assets listed.

4.)  The "balance sheet" numbers re-posted, were only through 12/31/2023. 

But what’s a $175 Million IOU among "Business Associates," Capisce? Why all the fuss, just trust-em...

Micheal Popok of LegalAF, goes even further. He raises the serious likelihood, that Don Hankey, owner of Knight Specialty Insurance Company, has just broken "money laundering laws" - with statements he just made on CNN.

By saying that Trump has the "cash on hand" to pay back the $175 Million for the Bond - but also, that "he has no idea where Trump has gotten that money from" - Mr. Hankey has just admitted to a possible "money laundering" scheme. It is his responsibility to know where Trump’s collateral cash is coming from - assuming he is indeed a credible Bondsman, that he has purported himself to be.]

It's a mangrove swamp out there in Legal Land.

We know Trump loves that. he enjoys throwing wrenches into moving bicycle tires. It slows things down, and that is precisely all he wants for the moment.

And, boys, we're not even close to getting an eventual appeals court ruling on the original court judgment. What to think of that as the election nears. Yes, it's seven months away, but little tells us this will be resolved before the vote on November 5th.

Americans have a right to be angry, to openly say our justice system is skewed to favor the rich and famous.

Of course, it is...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."María Bonita"...

WOMEN:...What The F*ck Are They Doing In This Hate-Filled Republican Party?...So Many Sexist Bummers...No, Never A House Speaker Or Veep...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...There is a wide gap between them. Women are readily welcomed and gladly accepted in the Democratic Party. They are used and abused in the Republican Party. It's all out there for review, so open and clear. You see Vice-President Kamala Harris out there pretty much every day. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, too.

Republicans have never had a female vice-president, nor a female Speaker of the House of Representatives. Never, as in not through our national history. Women have braved wars and even started them in ancient times.

Here in our inclusive political arena, Republican women have risen only so much. We have a few in the U.S. Senate, a few more in the House and a gaggle of state governors.

Never a Republican vice-president or Speaker of the House, again we note.

And these days, it is issues important to women - abortion and IVF - that seem to be manipulated by Republican men. They are after an all-out, everywhere ban on abortion and are now pushing an effort to outlaw IVF treatments. So much for the party of family. They are hellbent, eyes wide-open, feelings at their ankles, mouths in an animalistic frothing.

Why do women stay with the ever-hateful Republican Party?

Is it all about Us vs. Them on important societal issues - just another sport? Fight the transgenders, tease a Social Security trimming that will hurt seniors, ban books, screw with voting rights, gerrymander to hold power, abuse a homely southern senator into giving the worst State of The Union response on record (a housewife kin the kitchen).

You can list your own, as I am sure there are more examples. The current Republican Party is nothing if not a raging work-in-progress on open racism, bigotry and all-around hate. We stopped reeling long ago. The script is in place and being acted upon. This is the party of Donald J. Trump, American Nazi.

Once, hope had it that women might gain stature within the GOP. It once fronted a woman for president (Elizabeth Dole, wife of U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, an admirable gent back in the day). Once, it posted one for Veep (Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin) and once it had actually leadership in the House.

Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican U.S. Senator from Maine, ran for president in 1964.

Yes, names and dates are out there for history buffs and political junkies.

But we write about today, about today's Republican Party. It is a doozie of a gang of self-serving politicians who long-ago (2016?) dropped all pretense and went anti-America bonkers. It found an audience, yes.

It delivered New Republican Women like Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado's Lauren Boebert in the House (see photo below). They arrived fresh off a racist Romper Room, or something like it. Their legislative input has been a Big Zero, neither offering signature proposals or winning Bills. But they are the blouse & skirt Face of The GOP these days.

Taylor Greene has earned the job of official batshit screamer at the State of The Union addresses by the president; sexy, playful Boebert is apparently fond of fondling in public theater settings (a Beetlejuice performance in Denver). Not quite the stage mom offered by TV back in the day, when June Cleaver of Leave It To Beaver wouldn't even wink sexually at TV husband Ward Cleaver.

But that was TV, something for the American Living Room.

Hollywood was a bit more serious, attune with reality in offering The Stepford Wives and Diary of A Mad Housewife. You can smile and laugh about these characterizations, but they do offer a looksee into our moving times.

Are Democrats better at accepting women as equals.

Yes, far better.

Any 1st Year political science student could point to this and that female Democrat public servant and likely not be able to match her with a Republican counterpart. Our own state, Texas, is top-heavy with males in the State Legislature, currently led by the Republican majority.

A strong Republican governor from the weaker sex? Maybe Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, although she's not in a prime-time sort of state. Sanders is a tough broad rough on a man's eyes, but she seems to be running her state like Republican Greg Abbott lashes Texas. Once, she was being talked about roundly as a potential vice-presidential running mate for the reputed misogynist Trump.

Take this is a brief looksee into the Republican outhouse and not as any sort of White Paper on the topic. We could write books - books! - about the state of our national politics, as many journalists are doing.

Our bent here is to simply shine the discount flashlight on a sliver of what's going on.

The Republican Party is likely keeping loads of shrinks in business, is what we would add...

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LETTER FROM HOME:...No, Immigrants Are Not "Animals" ...They Continue To Work, To Build America...That's A Fact...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The racist Republican candidate for president yesterday again told us that he believes immigrants coming to this country are "animals, not humans." He's wrong. They are more human than he will ever be, but we all know Donald J. Trump's world is a Bizarro World, an alternative universe where he, and only he, gets to decide pretty much everything. 

Has he seen the hard labor they perform for America and that's why he says it? Has he seen them perspiring like dogs to build our roads and highways, our roofs, our cute suburban landscaping, to work the meatpacking plants? Has he seen it and decided, man, that's too much work. He wouldn't do it.

And we would venture to say that many, many of his well-heeled, air-conditioned Republican pals would never do it, either. Hey, it's hard work, so hard that the country acknowledges that Americans would never do that sort of work. An American picking cotton all day in the hot sun, harvesting our fruit and vegetable crops?

Where? When?

No, kids, immigrants (. . .and we speak of dark-skinned immigrants because that's who Trump has in mind when he disrespects them) are not animals. They are our salvation, coming in waves as we need them, coming to do the jobs Americans will not do, coming to be berated by our comfortable wealthy, coming to work, coming to make sure we have apples and lettuce at the dinner table.

Locally, I do not hear the counter message. Trump gets a pass on his often-stupid utterances. It's national politics, they say here in the passive, subservient Rio Grande Valley. It's the former president, the one we know as a rabble-rouser. Trump's just being Trump, silly and absurd.

But elsewhere is where you'll find Americans who know the score, who know what immigrants have meant - and continue to mean - to this ever-ungrateful shank of land said to still be the home of the brave and the land of the free. 

We publish this sentient letter to The Los Angeles Times in its entirety: [ To the editor: Thanks to Lorraine Ali for her thoughtful column about the immigrant workers who died in the Baltimore bridge collapse.

Yes, we are happy to have immigrants perform the jobs that are too dangerous, dirty or onerous for our delicate hands and sensibilities. But we hate them and wish they would stay out of sight.

We need immigrants who care for our elderly parents, watch our young children, clean our homes and tend our gardens. We may even consider them "family" as we illegally pay them under the table without reporting their wages or contributing to their Social Security.

But we hate them for entering illegally, if they work for someone else.

Yes, these workers who lost their lives are someone’s family members who work difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs to try and give their children a better life. We need them to make our lives comfortable and keep our country functioning.

Some say these people should "stand in line" and immigrate to the U.S. legally. Now, tell me where the line starts for construction, farm and domestic workers? You can't, because there isn't one.

Welcome, immigrants, to the United States — democracy or hypocrisy?

- Laurie Jacobs, San Clemente ]

-0-

Well said and pretty much a bullseye.

I reel at reading about what Trump and his Republican ilk say from one day to the next. It is as if we're living in a washing machine at the local laundromat, all of us in the spin cycle wishing the damned thing would finish the job. The much-awaited November General Election cannot come soon enough and our hope that the courts at last put this man on trial (four criminal cases, some 80 felonies to be dealt with) gets no relief.

To date, Donald J. Trump is above the law. Perhaps that will change one day.

What won't change is our dependence on hard-working foreigners willing to come here to do our dirtiest jobs while being called names you would never hear in church. Their women caring for children and the elderly, cleaning them when Americans disdain doing it for little Timmy and Grandma Mavis.

Animals, he calls them...

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SUN FLICKS:...Reporters At The Movies..."Reds"...

CASH, BABY:...Anti-Trump Republican Donates $900,000 To Democrat Joe Biden's 2024 Campaign...Attorney George Conway, Former Husband Of Trump Acolyte Kellyanne...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...You've seen him criticizing his fellow Republican Donald J. Trump on television news and talk shows. Like forever, yes. Attorney George Conway has brought the guns against the current Republican leader, always noting and spotlighting Trump's gaffes, missteps and ridiculousness.

Now, Conway is bringing the cash against his favorite foe.  

This excerpt from axios.com: [ George Conway, the lawyer who became an online celebrity with his anti-Trump tweeting, will headline a fundraiser for President Joe Biden in D.C. on April 24, Democratic sources tell Axios.

This is Conway's first big pro-Biden event.

Conway, who's divorced from former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, wrote a check for $929,600 — the max you can give to the Joe Biden Victory Fund. The minimum gift for the event is $500. ]

No, it's not a big surprise. Not if your day includes watching daytime TV, gab shows like Morning Joe, where Conway is a regular. Was he on it this morning? Probably.

Funding presidential candidates is always a good move, goes the influencer's line. Some old dude who made his fortune selling mattresses in Houston chipped-in a bundle for Trump the other day, even sent him a truckload of mattresses for Mar-a-Lago.

The talkative Conway, however, seems to take extra pleasure in jabbing big target Trump.

We suspect he's not the only deep pockets dude eager to fork over a few bucks in support of one or the other.

Names will keep coming...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."The Only Living Boy In New York"...

LIARS:...Our Politicians Have Grabbed Hard To The Nasty Habit...Cops Do It Too...Hey, Americans Love Lying...On A Resume, It's Okay...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...So, you see, everybody lies. It's the world we live in. Everybody. From our friends and pastors to our politicians. We hear lies about personal histories (things our friends, family and acquaintances did and did not do as military people and as working professionals), about our accomplishments, about who we really are and about our social meanderings.

Your neighbor is a high school dropout, but he insists on telling you he is a professional - not one course in college study or expensive coat & tie in his closet. Lying grabs him some cred, goes the line in the streets. It is what veterans also know as "stolen valor," when someone who never served a day on Navy base or Army post claims he did. Silly lies. Little lies. But lies just the same.

Our best-known national politicians now live the lie. Live it daily. Self-aggrandizing also goes on the resume. Lie often glossed over by another lie. The opponent is this and that, lies. Today, it goes without saying that lying is some sort of badge for most elected officials. They can't help themselves, not when they, too, believe that everyone lies.

Once, in an earlier America, it was actually frowned-upon. Once, a politician who lied would quickly find himself on the outs, forced to resign, which they did readily. Not these days. If it's not a lie, it's a refusal to acknowledge facts. "Why did you resign the post, sir?"

There is no answer.

The guy resigned a top-level political post and never told his friends or supporters exactly what happened, why he or she resigned. That's a part of the story. And, for those of us in storytelling, the information belongs. Oh, well. There will be no info and the brain will have to frame its own reasons, often a bad one or two.

Cops lie. Some of the best fiction, we're told, can be found in police reports.

Governors lie. An invasion at the border, ours has been crowing. When busloads of supporters show up to see for themselves, they find a calm stretch of the South Texas border, they find local residents in full frowns, they find that the hot story has been exaggerated. The word "invasion" has a clear meaning. What we have seen of the Mexican border and the on & off surges in immigrant arrivals is not an "invasion," not as any self-respecting military man would define the word.

But the lie accomplishes its task - it roils the citizenry, sparks interest in resolving the manufactured crisis and, ultimately, it serves one man's political purposes.

A lie draws no blood. Perhaps that is why lying is so easy, so handy, so apropos in the moment a politician reaches for a lie or two. Same for a straying wife or husband in the world of adultery. You lie for advantage, the cheapest there is.

The car is fully paid-for, they will tell you, when the bank owns the note.

I suppose I have lied a time or two. I mean, more than likely to women, never to my employers or banker. I actually thought it was cute, or, perhaps more correctly, being cute. I'm so sure I was also lied-to. My U.S. Navy recruiter told me I'd be able to "put in" for favored duty stations. Well, I did "put in," but I never got assigned to places I wanted.

Over the weekend, I heard several times that our religious leaders have been lying about the very ethnic makeup of Jesus Christ. The imagery at my church is of a tall, handsome, long-haired White man. Non-liars say Jesus was actually a dark-skinned Middle Eastern man.

Oh, well. Perhaps too many photos of the White Jesus, too many stained-glass windows with that image, have been printed and sold to ever make the needed correction.

It's actually hard to find a part of society where lying is not a player. Grocery store operators are said to now be lying about why prices have risen and stayed risen. One onion selling for $1.08? A concha of Mexican bread fame at $1.28? They lie and say the point of origin (farmworkers and bakers) are the problem, the gougers.

Eh. I know. It's just a dollar here and there. But why lie? Because it's the American Way?

Well, yes.

Does that explain Liar Extraordinaire Donald J. Trump?

Totally...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Kodachrome"...

RAPISTS:...Sexual Attacks On White Women As Topic On The Campaign Trail...Assault By Hot-Blooded Immigrants... Fearmongering Up!!!..

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Sex crimes by hot-blooded immigrants. Beyond swimming the passive Rio Grande, we mean. The worst of crime. Crimes against American women, White women especially. That is the issue front-center in Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's campaign.

In his active mind, it's always a brown-skinned man accosting a White woman. Never mind that Trump is one who's been convicted of rape in New York. No, that's okay - it was White-on-White sex.

The attack and murder of 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley last February by an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela in Georgia fueled the narrative, this one sailing onward from Trump's initial speech for office in which he labeled all Mexican "illegals" as being rapists.

Who knows what the data would show? Statistics on Undocumented Brown men raping White women cannot be found, not as such. It happens every day in porn scenes, but that's acceptable. The FBI has statistics on rape by Americans, yes. Trump is not playing that tune. Perhaps, in his mind, White women being raped by White men or American Browns is okay, fine.

It continues as an issue at his rallies. He spewed the same fear over the weekend. You'd think these rapes are a daily occurrence. Maybe he knows something we don't. The media, however, does not seem to be a part of his spiel. Rapes are covered in news reports generally, by local outlets for the most part, unless it's one that grabs national headlines, like Miss Riley's.

Should we care about the fearmongering?

It's politics and, well, these days everything goes in that world.

This nugget from dailykos.com grabbed my attention: [ Republicans who are pushing for more restrictive immigration policy ahead of a pivotal election year continue to lean on an old strategy in their appeal to voters: broadly framing immigrant men as dangerous next to imagery of young white women victims. ]

It's not all that new. We've heard it in the past, although never this loudly coming from the mouth of a candidate. Mostly, it was the Black Card these White politicians played, especially in the American South. Looking at a White women could get you hanged, went the line. So true.

Supposedly, these new immigrants are looking for work and a better life.

But who knows? Perhaps we're not so in-the-know about these things.

Sex is a human need, yes.

I suspect, however, that it is not atop the list of a newcomer's must-dos once inside this country. I mean, what do White people imagine - every one of these guys pouncing on the first chubby White chick they see? Yeah, sure. The imagination also deals in votes. It's an easy one for the brain. And, for some, it is tell-me-what-to-think these days.

Donald Trump knows that. He reads his rally audiences; he fashions what they want to hear.

By now, well know that Trump is a master racist, one unashamed to throw out the worst in himself.

He loves women, is what he has said often.

And, on this, he likely figures all men love women. What he hasn't spotlighted is the possibility that these hot-blooded undocumented immigrants are also targeting Black and Brown women for sexual gratification.

But then, he may not care about the rape of non-White women...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Tommy"...

CROSSWINDS:...Following A Lame Winter, A Breezy Spring Sets The Stage For The Annual Texas Summer Scorch...Uh, 91 Degrees Today, 95 Tomorrow...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...We all know and some of us love our subtropical weather, that annoying, oppressive humidity working itself into our days and nights, there with the relentless summer heat, our existence being nothing more than life in a soft winter and a serpentine summer.

Hey, Maria, it'll be 91 degrees today!

Whoop-de-doo. Is that your response? The old line - that you knew it was coming, that the cool evening of last Thanksgiving and the one a bit cooler on Christmas were just passing moments of meteorological goodness.

I don't know that anyone'd ever studied our regional weather. Well maybe the weatherboys on the area TV stations. They are the evening weather warblers, after all. I mean, is that even a tough job around here after mid-April, when every day is just another hot day? Until late-October, at that.

You could write a paper about it for a college class, yes. That would be reason enough. But, other than that, weather is, well, weather - the local bully and occasional villain, like when, and if, a hurricane aims this way.

Mostly, it is a life of shorts and worn T-shirts for me on a daily basis by this time next month. Until then. I shall insist on my blue jeans and harness boots, an all-cotton, long-sleeve shirt and that'll be that, my cool-weather uniform. And, actually, I'm not alone on that approach. People I see out and about apparently shop where I shop.

I do like the thought of women shedding their however-slight winter garb, those sweaters and pants. A woman in pants? That's a story for another day.

So, 95 degrees here tomorrow. Can 100 degrees be far behind?

It's our insistent environment, the life-giving ambiance there even when we go for an afternoon jog, when we just sit outside and watch the wild birds, when we get into lively discussions about our horrible politics at the restaurant. If it's 95 degrees, it's time for ice cream. Forget Donald Trump and Joe Biden and all that daily mental rot.

Get me some sliced peaches for my primo vanilla ice cream. Stock my freezer with a generous amount of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I love the smell of caramel in the morning.

Only, if it's hot and humid, well, bring on the ice-cold lemonade, Baby. Get on the couch with me and say something about the air-conditioner working nicely, the overhead fan supporting the concept of colling the joint.

I could bitch for hours about the perspiration that comes with a July and August scorcher. I could damn the planet's gods for ruining my morning coffee's delightful cool-weather taste, for throwing the climate change seriousness in my face.

One could get all riled-up, yes. 

But that was me a few years back, soon after I'd returned to my homeland after years away.

I'm subtropical now, see...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Cancion Mixteca"...

FREEDOM MATTERS:...It's Been Fought For Enough...No, No Dictator Here... American Servicemen Did Not Serve, Or Die, For This...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The artistic thinking is that sometimes words just get in the way, or that they take way too long to add up for some over-riding thought one wants to convey. A clear, thoughtful drawing often does it swiftly and succinctly.

Like the one above.

It is a sentiment I have felt and shared of late - those four years I spent in the U.S. Navy...for this?!

For enduring moron, draft-dodging Donald J. Trump?! His self-serving spiel does ring hollow, doesn't it, like a compliment so off-base that it angers. He's seeking the hallowed presidency one more time under the freedom veterans fought for and died for, an obscenity of the first order.

It's true that the November election cannot get here fast enough. This loser, a racist at that, is not who we are, or have ever been. Maybe some sectors in the South, not the collective if judged as one.

How many Americans have died in our wars? Too many. 671,000 in World War II. 58,000 in Vietnam, the conflict at issue when I served as a Corpsman, two years at Navy duty stations and two years with the U.S. Marines, back then a part of the Navy and under Navy medical care.

To think that an anti-America foghorn like Donald Trump can so easily upend this concept of freedom is unthinkable. Some say they believe in him, that his election will mean a better America.

Those Americans are fools.

A fascist dictator sees "everyone" as being beneath him, as being under his thumb, as being his loyal slaves. No room for questioning. No recourse against the heavy hand of political/government power. He will sic the goons on you. 

Veterans, especially our older veterans, cannot begin to believe that they served for nothing, for this...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Songwriter"...

MARCH MADNESS:...Idiot Republicans...Airplane Lands In Detroit...GOP Fool Watches Passengers Deplane...They're Aliens, He Posts On X...They Were A Basketball Team In Town For NCAA Play...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It was high anxiety time in Michigan yesterday afternoon as several buses pulled up to an airport hangar for arriving passengers. Illegal aliens! Coming from the southern border!! Oh, no, not us in Detroit!!!

It happened, Maria.

Here's how the embarrassing pratfall was reported in thehill.com: [ A Republican state legislator in Michigan railed against several buses of "illegal invaders" landing at his local airport Wednesday, but he weathered harsh criticism after it was discovered the buses carried a college basketball team.

Rep. Matt Maddock (R) (shown wearing coat & tie at left in photo above) said the Gonzaga University basketball team, which was in Detroit for its March Madness Sweet 16 match-up on Friday, was a group of "illegal immigrants."

". . . . .Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?" Maddock wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Maddock included photos of an Allegiant Air plane and a fleet of team buses, which appeared identical to the aircraft and buses shown in Gonzaga Basketball posts about the team landing in Detroit at about the same time Maddock made his comments.

The post circulated quickly, with dozens of users pointing out the mistake and making fun of Maddock. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) commented on the post, calling Maddock out for his assumptions.

"Hey, Einstein, your state is hosting the Sweet 16. Could it be a team bus? If it is, will you resign for your spectacular stupidity?" Swalwell wrote. ]

Maddock went dead silent.

He had been mentally castrated. Another hell-bent, anti-immigrant Republican falling from grace in flames.

They're just stupid, idiots...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."I Don't Want To Talk About It"...

THE SCYTHE:...Cutting The Fat In Government...Candidate Trump Bird-Dogging Social Security...And The IRS...He's Swinging The Killing Blade...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...So, is it on the Republican chopping block, or isn't it? You hear enough noise that some of the comments aimed at doing it ring true. Republican politicians can be coy, much more than Democrats. The thinking is that Republicans are comfortable, that they look down on any sort of program benefitting less-wealthy Americans.

Democrats are on record as saying Social Security benefits are off-limits to any government-trimming axe.

Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has played both sides of this card. He has said all "entitlements" are on the table and he has said that, well, Social Secuity is not. To believe him or not is the question. That's a crapshoot with Trump, as we know. He will bend at the drop of a new thought put in his brain by some crazed, far-right zealot.

This from newsweek.com: [ But as Trump gears up for his third run for the White House in November's presidential election, experts have warned that his comments on the nation's largest social insurance program could come back haunt him after he hinted in an interview this month that he could be open to cuts.

"So, first of all, there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting," Trump said on the subject of Social Security and Medicaid during a call in to CNBC's Squawk Box program on March 11. ". . . .And in terms of, also, the theft and the bad management of entitlements - tremendous bad management of entitlements - there's tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do." Trump later loosely clarified what he meant by his comments, telling conservative news website Breitbart: "I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare." ]

Of course. Too bad Trump is seen as a world-class liar, as someone who will say anything so long as it suits him in a given moment. Should Americans - aging, retired Americans - trust him?

No.

Nyet!

Trump has proven he will act impetuously. That he, he who seems to disdain all federal bureaucracies, would not look at the Social Security Administration is...dreaming. He'll cut. He'll cut like a sugar cane field-working sumbitch. You know it...and I know it. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is on notice. As is the Department of Education. Same for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), plus a few others.

He's said it. At his rallies and in interviews.

The hot-button issue surfaces every now and then as he speaks about what he will do if elected president. Candidate Trump has railed against the country's huge deficit often enough to make anyone listening believe that he could care less about some budget-sapping government programs - like, we would say, food stamps and housing assistance.

The elderly?

They're annoying fodder for a would-be dictator, dead wood for a working nation.

Social Security, a program heading into its 90th year, was begun by Democrats under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the mid-1930s, is on the chopping block for cold-hearted Republicans. To not believe it is to see it slink down the national drain.

Never mind that Social Security is a program funded primarily by way of payroll deductions, money these same monthly-check recipients contributed without fail throughout their working years.

The 70-some million Americans on Social Security are only claiming and receiving what is theirs...

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SUN FLICKS:...Reporters At The Movies..."Slow Water" From 'Heaven's Gate'...

THIRD PARTY:.....Kennedy Scion Picks Google-Founder's Ex-Wife As Running Mate... She's 38 and Loaded... Another Longshot Independent Stab At The White House...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Nicole Shanahan is her name. National politics is her game. Not quite the known figure in any political setting, the 38-year-old is nonetheless buying the ticket and taking the ride. As of this morning, she's on the campaign trail.

You'll see her as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate as he rides the cheap carnival ride known as a longshot candidacy for eventually hanging it at The White House. The odds? Long. Damned long.

But he's a Kennedy, son of the former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, and, we should add, a headstrong Kennedy, at that. Yesterday, he made his first meaningful decision.

From newrepublic.com: [ Kennedy on Tuesday announced that he’s chosen a running mate for his third-party presidential run: Nicole Shanahan, an investor, Silicon Valley lawyer, and Democratic donor who was previously married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

This might seem like a strange choice. Shanahan has no political experience or national name recognition. Her image as a wealthy dilettantish sort has no obvious appeal to the disaffected voters that Kennedy hopes to lure from President Biden and Donald Trump.

But if you want to understand this decision - and why Democrats believe it poses a potential problem for them - follow the money. To get on the ballot in numerous states, Kennedy will need to fund a large operation. Shanahan has already proven willing to bankroll Kennedy’s efforts, shelling out $4 million to fund that 1960s nostalgia-themed ad about the Kennedy family during the Super Bowl, which the other Kennedys sharply criticized.

Kennedy does have other reasons to choose Shanahan. She appears to be at least partly ideologically aligned with him: While she told The New York Times that she isn’t an anti-vaxxer, as Kennedy is, she seemed to agree with theories that link vaccines for kids to things like autism. She also proclaimed herself moved by "pockets of silent support" for Kennedy’s bid, meaning she’s imbibed a gallon of Kennedy Kool-Aid about the country supposedly hungering for his third-party challenge. ]

I'd want to say that this is an intriguing choice, but, well, what isn't any more in our national political landscape? Still to pick his second banana is Republican Donald Trump. Incumbent President Joe Biden, the Democrat, has Kamala Harris, also an attorney, as his running mate.

Kennedy is 70 and maybe age is again at pay here, and why he would want a younger running partner. We all know that picking the Veep is always a crapshoot. Mike Pence? In 2008, Republican John McCain picked photogenic Alaskan Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential hopeful, only we all know how that went and where - nowhere.

The suspicion here on Ms. Shanahan is that her all-in, strong support for Kennedy is enough to get her huffing and puffing on the campaign trail. She has zero experience. That may or may not matter. It'll be all about how she speaks to the masses and how the masses react to her words and actions.

Here, however, you have a Massachusetts liberal joining hands with one from across the country in California.

The thing is both of those states likely will go - and were always going to go - with the Democrat.

November will come soon enough...but not before we suffer our Summer of Political Discontent...

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SUN FLICKS:...Reporters At The Movies..."The Bridges of Madison County"...

STORMY SEAS:...For Trump, A Salacious Court Date With A Porn Star Hush Payment... $130,000...Violated Campaign Funds Reporting Laws...In Her World, Melania Mum...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The guy is in a laundromat washer's mid-cycle, his days full of legal angst, money woes and a political campaign that just won't get him there. Americans are being entertained as never before in the history of national politics. I mean, Donald Trump's the first former president up on criminal charges...and the trial unfolds in three weeks.

Welcome to Deep Doo-Doo, the sequel starring the aforementioned Trump and porn star Stormy Daniels.

A few years back, like a dozen or so, Trump laid Ms. Daniels soon after the birth of his son, Barron, and the poke cost him $130,000. He paid it so that Ms. Daniels would lay low and stay quiet about the quickie affair. His then-fixer attorney, Michael Cohen, was the vessel for funneling the cash to her.

Well, the details are somewhat well-known already, but they will now color the gossiper's trial of this century.

This from axios.com: [ The judge overseeing Trump's New York hush money case said Monday that jury selection in the case will begin on April 15. The date cements that the case will be the first of Trump's four criminal indictments to go to trial, meaning the former president will face criminal prosecution as he campaigns for another term.

Trump, who has repeatedly sought to delay his legal troubles for as long as possible, requested that his New York criminal trial be delayed at least 90 days or dismissed completely.

During a news conference on Monday, he criticized the judge's decision to keep the hearing on track for a mid-April start, saying "I don't know how you can have the trial that's going on right in the middle of an election."

"It's not fair," he said.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last week urged Merchan to not delay the case any further, calling Trump's request a "strategic delay."

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in the case, which stems from a 2016 payment he allegedly made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the charges. ]

What is it that they say about the weaker sex: "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Stormy Daniels is about to get her primo acting role of her lifetime. On the witness stand. She'll tell it all, brother. Before the fall. And much of what she says will be corroborated by ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who has already testified about how the payment deal went down.

It should be a hoot for trial watchers, yes.

For Trump, and likely for wife Melania, it will be an undressing...

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SPECIAL TREATMENT:.... Trump's $464 Million Fraud Judgment Reduced To $175 Million...Now Has 10 Extra Days To Post Bond...While He Appeals...Still Stands To Lose And Pay The Half-Billion...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...He's shrinking. Don't let the self-promoting polls fool you. There are more than big money and legal problems in the Donald J. Trump campaign. He's hemorrhaging - votes and needed campaign cash.

Today's action in New York related to that $464 million fraud conviction is only the first step down the so-called short pier for the 77-year-old faux Republican.

Did the State of New York act on the threat to take his properties for non-payment? Check your favorite online news website. (Update: A New York appeals court on Monday gave former President Trump 10 more days to post a $175 million bond and satisfy the judgment in his New York civil fraud case, a much smaller total than the $454 million initially required.). There was the outside chance that Trump would find the money, either from American billionaires or a few dictators abroad. It's the DeadBeat Hour in the Big Apple.

As for the weird campaign, Trump still faces trials that would melt the average American. That hush money case is on hold, but cutie porn star Stormy Daniels (shown in photo below) likely knows she will win it, as does the New York district attorney.

Florida is on hold, what with Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon holding up things on the classified documents charges. That one seems to be about Cannon kissing her benefactor's wide ass, her rulings seemingly always favoring the presidential candidate now known as Don Poorleone. Pundits say that trial may not happen until early 2025, after the election in November, yes.

Trump's January 6 insurrection trial is also on hold, as he works that silly "immunity" claim all the way to the Supreme Court. It's a strong case, and Trump knows he. As commenters forever throw out on this and other websites, an innocent man would not claim immunity and would insist on a speedy trial. Not Trump. Court is the last place he wants to be.

In Georgia, the wheels of justice also have slowed. RICO charges are tough to defend. Trump wants nothing to do with it. His side of things sicced off-the-field amorous charges against District Attorney Fani Willis, but she beat them back. An affair with a staff attorney had who knows what to do with the cases against the Republican, a case said to be strong.

That case (election meddling) may see action before the year's out, although Trump is.....fighting it.

He's got a cage full of problems to overcome before facing incumbent Democrat Joe Biden in the election later this year. Trump, however, has nothing else to do but live the falling experience. Little outside his bubble is going his way, no matter what he says about sales to do with his golden sneakers.

This telling bit from dailykos.com: [ Trump’s poll numbers are a mirage. In 2016, conservative voters did not want to admit they had a thing for the corpulent crybaby. In 2024, the MAGAs do not dare say that the affair is over. In 2016, the base picked the forbidden fruit. In 2024, they are spitting out the seeds.

I am not blind. I see the rallies. The cultists show up in their Trump regalia, full of righteous piss and vinegar, prostrate on the altar. But that is the lunatic fringe. They are the people who would still vote for Trump if they saw a video of Putin giving him a golden shower. But to win, a presidential candidate has to do two things. Get the base to polls. And win the majority of the middle.

Polls that favor Trump cannot say how likely the respondents are to vote. The hardcore will always show up. But for many, that decision is made far closer to the election. And I sense (which is proof of nothing) that Trump’s polling is buoyed by support from people who say they will vote — but won’t. ]

DailyKos.com leans left, so much of this is partisan. But that's okay, 'cause right-wing media throws out the exact opposite. It's on, the fight is on.

May the American candidate win...

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DAY OF RECKONING:...Big Cash Due In Donald Trump's Massive Fraud Case......$464 million...He's Appealing, But Must Post Full Amount...NY Will Take His Buildings...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Tomorrow is the day, boys. New York wants its cash and one Donald J. Trump either pays the $464 million court judgment or the state will confiscate and sell his property. That's the headline today.

Fraud rarely pays.

And New Yorkers have a certain way of telling you things and status costs money. White House candidate DJT has said the has the money to pay the pay...and then he has said that he has it, but doesn't want to use it to pay The Big Apple. Bar tabs tend to balloon before you stop guzzling down that alcohol.

Will he walk up to the courthouse clerk's office on Monday and hand over a certified check for the full amount? Or, will he again balk and see the consequences (confiscation of his prized buildings and other real estate possessions) flash before his eyes?

Headstrong New York Attorney General Letitia James will go either way, although one gets the impression that she'd like nothing better than to grab Trump's well-known Manhattan buildings, like Trump Tower. It's been coming for weeks.

In the civil and criminal cases against Trump, this one will see resolution, Baby.

Climax time in the city. Like running full-speed down a subway entry way and actually catching the train headed for Lower Manhattan on the first day of the workweek. Getouttamyway! Dammit, dude, you got pizza on my coat! Ah, but lookit the pretty dame seated there across me. Pepperoni will wash, won't it? Cheese on my cotton, Banana Republic tie? Bastard.

But I'm on the train!

Trump will make a big show out of paying the fine, if he does that.

Word all last week was that he didn't have it. Appealing the ruling meant he still had to post the entire amount, so that NY would not get stiffed. Then came news that his lawyer, the Iraqi Alina Habba, would not say he wasn't getting the cash from a foreign government, like Russia or the 9/11 Saudi Arabians. Trump actually went in another direction, saying he was taking Truth Social, his media flea, public and that he stood to make as much as $3 billion off it.

Then came word that whatever shared he had, well, there was the itchy stipulation that he wait six months before being able to sell them.

I know, it's a terminally boring tale of Trump and disgust. We tire of it, yes.

At least, one Day Of Reckoning is here for The Great Appealer.

Appeal all you want, dude. Just know that time always runs out on most things involving humas. In the massive fraud case we saw unfold last month, where the law said you lied to get loans and then you lied again to not pay taxes, well, time has run out.

Bang the drum slowly, Maria...

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SUN FLICKS:...Reporters At The Movies..."Full Monty"...

HAITI:...Bloody Gang Warfare Unabated...Island Country In Disarray...U.S. Offers Millions To Kenyan Police Force As One Answer...No U.S. Troops Being Sent...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Kenya does and doesn't want to go. The U.S. is pressuring the United Nations to authorize and field a multinational force. Life and gang warfare in Haiti are on fire. Political unrest has seen thousands split for other lands, many escaping Haitians sailing off to Mexico with hopes of then making it to the northern Mexican border for a shot at entering the U.S.

It is the boiling pot of the Caribbean, an open sore that won't heal.

From harpers.org: [ In Haiti, Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced he would step down once a transitional council was in place, and an ex-police officer and current gangster known as Barbecue threatened politicians who were planning to take part in the council. ]

The U.S., however, is not interested in sending its troops to quell the lawlessness. Instead, it has offered the African country of Kenya $300 million to arm and dispatch a sizable police force to the ragged island country. Many in Kenya are opposed, saying they do not want to see their police officers (not the Kenyan Army) return home in body bags.

Kenyan President William Ruto favors the offer, but he does not yet have the okay from the national congress.

This all comes after three years of unease following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in July, 2021.

Since then, wanton gangs have taken over the streets of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, in effect become the authority in Haiti.

The unrest is in marked contrast to life in the Dominican Republic, the other country on the island, where no such gang warfare exists. From a report at cnn.com: [ Ruthless gangs have a stranglehold on the city, preying on the population, carving neighborhoods into warring criminal fiefdoms, and cutting Haiti’s international port off from the rest of the country. ]

U.S. Embassy officials and staff departed Haiti earlier this week.

It was more than just going home to safety; the departure was symbolic of a frustration... 

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