LOOKS LIKE HE'S IN:...Trump's Son Barron Hits The Political Campaign Trail...To Be A Delegate At Republican National Convention...Mom Melania Sheltered Him, But The Kid Is 18 Now...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Another Trump has joined the hunt for the prize. This one is Barron Trump, the youngest of the crew, and that is something of a surprise. To date, Mama Melania had kept him out of the spotlight. Critics who note a clear family stab at wide-open nepotism will pounce.

Already daughter-in-law Lara Trump is co-director of the Republican National Committee. Eldest daughter Ivanka, who served (along with husband Jared Kushner) as an advisor in Trump's term as president, is said to be re-joining troubled Dad's effort to regain the White House in the upcoming November election.

This excerpt from The Associated Press: [ Donald Trump's youngest son, Barron Trump, has been chosen to serve as a Florida delegate to the Republican National Convention, the state party chairman said Wednesday.

Republican Party of Florida chairman Evan Power said the 18-year-old high school senior will serve as one of 41 at-large delegates from Florida to the national gathering, where the Republican Party is set to officially nominate his father as its presidential candidate. ]

It is something of a shocker.

For months, ever-reclusive Melania Trump shielded her only son from press coverage and any sort of national limelight. She has yet to comment on the change of heart, however, although she'll likely chime-in perhaps even today.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, returns to his Hush Money Trial this morning, where he is facing 34 felony charges related to business records he allegedly manipulated in paying-off Porn Star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

It should be noted that Trump's other two sons, Eric and Don Jr, also will serve as convention delegates.

And we're pretty sure that Melania Trump is about to take on a bigger, more-visible role in her husband's campaign...

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SUN TV:...From The Vault, A Primo Series...COLD CASE...Episode - "The Good-Bye Room"...

STORMY ROARS:...In Hush Money Trial, Trump Portrayal A Bummer...Porn Star Rips Him A New One...Trump Told Her Melania Slept In Separate Room...Word Of His Little Todger...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Wild day in the Lower Manhattan courtroom for Donald J. Trump. I mean, hey, the porn star was on the witness stand and she was telling it all. All, brother. Before the fall, as the song says. Stormy Danniels is her stage name and she's getting her revenge.

Trump did her at a ritzy hotel in Lake Tahoe in 2006 and she won't let him forget it.

At his ongoing trial in New York, a jury heard details that rocked Trump's boat. She laid-out the events of the shacking in graphic detail, so much so that the judge let it be known to prosecutors that perhaps it was a bit too much.  

From politico.com: [ The prosecutor said at one point Stormy inquired about his wife, Melania, to which Trump replied: "We actually don’t sleep in the same room." Daniels mouthed the word "Wow" to the jury after relaying that alleged comment.

Daniels said that when he took out a magazine cover with his picture on it, she dressed him down. "Are you always this rude?" she said she told him, before whacking him with the magazine. "I took it from him and I swatted him with it … right on the butt," she said.

As Daniels recounted that story, Trump appeared to mutter the word "bullshit" under his breath, while still not looking in Daniels’ direction, although her image was on TV screens in front of him. That earned Trump a warning from the judge during a sidebar with attorneys. ]

It continues tomorrow after a day off today, and the word is that prosecution in the trial will go on for about two more weeks.

Trump is facing 34 criminal felony charges.

Another interested tidbit Stormy threw out was that Trump had told her she reminded him of his daughter, Ivanka - a weird thing to say to a porn actress, for sure.

There has been no comment from Melania Trump, or daughter Ivanka. Son Eric was in attendance yesterday and continues to be the only family member showing up to support defendant Trump.

Commentary on TV talk shows is leaning toward a jury conviction.

Prison for the Republican candidate for president, however, is said to not be part of the verdict. Probation and a hefty fine, yes.

Will it matter this November, when voters go to the polls?

Not for Trump's rabid MAGA base.

A BIG YES for the rest of the country...

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DEATH OF A DINO:...Congressman Henry Cuellar's Bribery Charge May End Career....Laredo Democrat & Wife Accused Of Taking $600,000 Bribe...But Trump Comes To His Defense...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Democrat Henry Cuellar is gone. Those bribery charges he and his wife are facing will end his long career in Congress. To use a commonly-known analogy, that's the way the crispy taco crumbles.

There has been little defense of the 68-year-old Cuellar coming from fellow Democrats.

Make a hole. Make room for Cuellar's unceremonious departure. Yes, he is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, but that's only a matter of time for this guy, a slick politician better known for his votes with Republicans than for upholding his party's ideology.

Too bad for his 67-year-old wife, Imelda, who has also been charged.

But as with any B-grade movie about crime, there was a sort of happy, supportive wave from a man also wearing a few indictments around his neck - one Donald J. Trump.

This from a report on axios.com: [ . . . .Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Department of Justice indicted Cuellar "because the Respected Democrat Congressman wouldn't play Crooked Joe's Open Border game."

"He was for Border Control, so they said, "Let's use the FBI and DOJ to take him out!" This is the way they operate," Trump wrote.

The Justice Department alleged that Cuellar took nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani government-controlled oil company and a Mexican bank.

In return, prosecutors allege that Cuellar agreed to "influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan" and advance the bank's interests in the U.S., per the indictment. ]

Cuellar is up for reelection in November.

He barely eked-out a win in his last one, winning by only 300 votes.

Cuellar has denied the charges.

These coddled, air-conditioned guys always do, don't they?...

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BACK WHEN:...America Was Calmer And Little Dogs Were Not Being Shot Dead By Crazed Republican Governors...Cool Mexican Restaurant Gets Boost In Sales After Surprise Obama Visit...

SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...A Song From My Days In Galveston..."Elusive Butterfly"...

BRIBERY AS SPORT:...Our Politicians Are Quick To Take Freebies...Too-Quick...No More Four Strikes And You're Out...Democrat Henry Cuellar Needs To Go...His Wife Also Is Accused...$600,000...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Yes, hang Congressman Henry Cuellar. The both-sides-now Democrat from Laredo's been indicted after years of being under investigation for taking bribes. No one is above the law.

Bring him to trial. Let the evidence either convict him or lack of set him free. The federal government says it has more than enough.

Cuellar, who represents the 28th Congressional District, is the last of the anti-abortion Democrats in Congress.

So long, loser.

This from axios.com: [ Minnesota Democrat Dean Phillips on Friday became the first House Democrat to call for Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) to resign over federal conspiracy and bribery charges.

Cuellar is the second sitting member of Congress currently under indictment, along with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has faced calls for resignation from over half of his Democratic colleagues.

"While the bar for Federal indictment is high, trust in government is at an all-time low," Phillips said. "That's why I believe any elected official or candidate facing such charges should resign or end their campaign. That includes Sen. Menendez, Donald Trump, and Rep. Cuellar."

In a 54-page indictment, the Justice Department accused Cuellar, 68, and his wife Imelda of taking nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani government-controlled oil company and a Mexican bank.

In exchange for the hefty bribes, prosecutors allege, Cuellar pushed legislation and pressured government officials to benefit Azerbaijan and the bank.

Cuellar has proclaimed his innocence and said he plans to run for reelection in November. He secured the Democratic nomination in March. ]

Time to clean house, top to bottom. No more games. 

There was a time in this country when an indictment was something serious. Jerks from both parties in Congress don't seem to get it. These days, an indictment is the equal of an unwanted bad telephone call from a constituent back home - something easily blown off.

Shifty Cuellar has played both sides of the aisle, voting often with Republicans.

Vote him out.

The stench from Laredo is palpable here in the Rio Grande Valley...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...Little Bit Of Austin...Jerry Jeff..."The Heart Of Saturday Night"...

FRIDAY WRAP:...News In Pictorial...It Was A Busy Workweek...We Can Work It Out...From Bumbling Trump Attorney Todd Blanche To Peripatetic Food Tourist Mayra Flores...And Beyond!!!...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

WESLACO, Texas |...What a week? It just won't stop, Ma. News on a crazed journey across ragged, tired brains from coast to coast. Someone pass me the salt. I can't seem to keep it off my wounds.

We arrive with our new weekly feature: Friday Wrap.

Not quite the tasty lettuce wraps I get at PF Chang's, but this is about horrible reports coming across my old desk. We get to everything sooner or later, yes.

Here, then, a few photos:

The first one is shown above, a cool shot of Donald J. Trump and his lawyer Todd Blanche as they mosey in or out of the courthouse in New York City, where Trump is on trial for cheating on his business records. Yes, porn star Stormy Daniels is also fighting for the center of the story, but it's about Donald misleading the tax office on that $130,000 payment to the stacked Porn babe.

Trump's face is morphing into that of, it seems, a giant Orange Muffin of the sort you get at Corner Bakery. Blanche throws out a face only a mother could love. He is the portrait of defeat in this one.

". . .It was your client who went down to that holding area and stood in front of the press and started to speak." Judge Juan Merchan told Trump attorney Blanche. "He went to the press. He didn't need to go in that direction."

"I agree with that," Blanche responded, drawing what The New York Times described as a "large laugh in the overflow room."

That exchange royally pissed off Trump, a dude who rarely concedes anything and who also hates it when people concede things for him.

Oh, well, Blanche's once stellar legal career is at the bottom of that outhouse hole...

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Interesting photo. Students at Columbia University in Lower Harlem cooking it on their laptops. Hey, where'd all those photos of raging students attacking each other and taking over buildings? The agitators?

This is a photo we didn't see during the student protests of the 1960s.

Perhaps some of them were students and these were simply working on course assignments. Ah, that news media. It only wants to give you the dramatic, the sick and the cop beatings.

Study on, Kids! The future is all yours...

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Yes, the Kennedy scion is still in the 2024 presidential race. The question on the minds of pretty much everybody who believes in vaccinations is....why?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr has nothing else to do.

He has no job, no first wife (she killed herself), no chance and no family member behind him. Anyone remember the comedian Pat Paulsen and his useless runs for president?

Yeah...

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Michael Cohen may get maybe not the last laugh but a few there at the end of Donald Trump's Hush Money Trial. He's been to the cesspool and back, his legal career over and that memory of having served as Trump's so-called "fixer" for some 12 years.

They say he went to the lowest-regarded Law School in the country. Ho hum. He still managed to do well in the Big Apple, the City That Never Sleeps, where he still made his cash and even wrote a few books.

Cohen's testimony against Trump is, as they say in Stephen King thrillers, "riveting."

Well, sure. I guess. He was there and, as Vietnam veterans like to say, you had to be there to understand.

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The semi-attractive South Dakota Republican governor, Kristi Noem, decided to have a book written about her and, well, she insisted that a certain incident in her life be included - the one where she kills her dog, "Cricket."

The explanation is somewhat believable: Out in the country, when your dog kills a neighbor's chicken, you shoot it dead. Never mind that her family may have like "Cricket," or that "Cricket" may have barked like Hell to keep from being murdered.

Noem shot him and "Cricket" died.

As did Noem's shot at being picked as Trump's running mate. Oh, well, to Republicans gunfire is Christmas music...

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We have been monitoring this campaign for the 34th Congressional District, pitting Republican Mayra Flores against incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez.

It's still boring, as neither candidate has taken out their Chicano knives. But we're told things will liven-up in the next few weeks.

All we have to date is Vicente Gonzalez bringing home the federal bacon and Flores traipsing across the Rio Grande Valley's eateries.

Her Facebook page is a literal cubby hole of photos showing Flores eating here and there. Yes, she mentions the name of the cafe and says she supports local business, blah, blah, blah.

Pro boxers often train like crazy, get down to weight and then scarf up grub like mad to get ready for fight night.

Mayra is looking rather full these days.

Let's get ready to rumble!!! 15 rounds of boxing.

This, we also say, may be Mayra's "All You Can Eat" Campaign...

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Well, that about covers it for this week, kids.

Oh, one more...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...Boz Scaggs, From Urban Cowboy, 1980..."Look What You've Done To Me"...

CAMPUS LIFE:...Back To Noisy Student Protest...Our Quite-American Tradition...Universities Are More Than Just Books And Football...Studying Everything Under The Universe...The Young Also Think About Their World...Let Them...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...All sorts of student arrests. Voices raised to the highest decibels. We're here and we're not moving. America's largest and best-known universities are under siege. Well, that's too military a word. Schools are being tasked with offering explanations, and that is a good thing.

But cops on campus?

No college or university wants that.

The genesis? That bloody war Israel has waged against Palestine, a rather one-sided assault, the U.S. backing Israel with weapons and money. Pro-Palestine students and supporters want the schools to divest of investments backing Israel.

Countering students argue defending Israel on campus is also to be expected.

What to do?

University presidents have been summoned to congressional hearings. Some had been forced to resign when the protests went heavy. Others are still wondering about solutions. City politicians - and some in Congress - have taken the strong-policing approach.

It's a flashback of Kent State in 1970, UC-Berkeley in 1964.

We're okay with student protest. It is our constitutional right in this republic still messing with Democracy. Free thought on campus. That was the old rallying cry back when student protests on campuses centered on the Vietnam Conflict.

Here, in this latest go-round, the imagery is wilder, perhaps even worse. Maybe it's the prevalence of cellphone cameras, the cat-quick response of the international press. Seeing military-attired local police storming a campus building to evict students is a bad photo-op.

The cops and the city officials want the coverage. They want the public to know that they are acting on a problem, responding, keeping it from escalating, from some opportunistic clown arriving with an automatic weapon and...yeah.

It's not a problem if it's only students protesting. Face it: These are tomorrow's leaders, and they perhaps even care about their future and their world.

It is if outside agitators are leading the charge...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...New Don Henley Album Due Out..."Take A Picture Of This"...

WHEN WINNING IS LOSING:...Liberal American Politics...Again, We Tease Disaster...Veterans Lining Up Against Trump...He's All About The No-Good...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Anyone remember George Wallace? Lyndon LaRouche? They were Trump before Trump became Trump. All three delivered crazed political campaigns out to draw gasps and damnation. Wallace was shot on the campaign trail. LaRouche was simply a wild man before his time.

They preached the White Story, one that has White people building this country and then not wishing to share it. History has so much more to add to this too-brief equation. But they didn't care. The time had come for White people to stand up and fight for their country.

Now it seems that was the precursor to what we have seen - and are seeing - in Republican presidential candidate Trump.

Time magazine is about to bring you a lengthy interview with Trump in which he bemoans the stet of White America.

Excerpts from the magazine, via axios.com: [ On "anti-white racism" protections: "I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country, and that can't be allowed."

On disbanding the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, established under President Biden: "I think I would. ... I think it sounds good politically, but I think it's a very expensive solution."

Time, in the cover story going on sale May 17, calls Trump's responses "the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world."

Asked by the magazine about his statement on Fox News in December that he'd be a dictator just for Day 1 of his presidency, Trump said: "I think a lot of people like it." ]

I know. I know a lot of us have heard this before.

What I have not heard - or seen in reporting - is any credible threat to White America. Really? Where? No news reports saying a group of Whites were shot dead while dining on pot roast at Cracker Barrel. No news report of Whites voicing fear and loathing.

No news reports of any ethnic group ganging up on Whites.

What's Donald Trump talking about here? Well, "talk" is what it is. Fearmongering for votes. Saying the craziest of shit just to get noticed. It would be hard to not notice an orange-faced man, but Trump does it every day. Is it vanity, or is it insecurity?

He definitely has a need for attention.

If he wins, as Time magazine asks on its front cover, well, he wins.

This country may be in a world of bad breadth these days, but I say it would survive Trump, like it did between 2016 and 2020.

The United States will not be sunk by one man. Yes, he has his legion of weirdoes, but another power rules behind the scenes: money. Make of that what you will, but I'm sure you get my drift...

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SUN RECORDS:...An Old Song From The Old West....Michael Murphy..."Geronimo's Cadillac"...

FULL-THROATED HELL:...Fiery Republican Mayra Flores Labels Democrat Opponent Vicente Gonzalez A "Leftist"...If Only!!!...He's Not That...Is Lobbing Insults All She Has?...Her Campaign Wallows...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...We would have been more impressed if she had challenged Ted Cruz, the junior U.S. Senator from Texas. This race against well-entrenched Democrat Vicente Gonzalez for the 34th Congressional seat is a bad fit for Mayra Flores.

She'll lose again in November.

But, boys, she's once more being Mayra, and, well, perhaps that's all she'll ever be. Something about her story tells me she would do well in Congress - but not as a Republican. Her personal history paints the very essence of a Democrat's portrait: Born poor, born in Mexico, re-born as an American citizen.

Still, there she is. Battling ghosts no one else sees. Well, maybe her insipid followers, all displaying their silliness on her Facebook page - the majority of them from elsewhere in the country. Perhaps they do love her, much like we loved Vietnamese who fought alongside U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.

How else to explain her crazy, often-ragged politics.

But we do like her, and a primary contest against the hated Ted Cruz would likely have had a Cinderella ending. What is she going to do after another loss to Gonzalez?

This from her Facebook page: [ "Our latest polling has us in a very tight, competitive congressional race against leftist Vicente Gonzalez. Congressman Vicente Gonzalez has voted more funding to go overseas than into his own district. He also voted to allow biological males in female sports and in girls' locker rooms. He voted to allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country even after they committed felonies. 

Vicente Gonzalez doesn't represent South Texas values." ]

Gonzalez is a 56-year-old graduate of Texas A&M School of Law, hardly the model for anything "leftist," although maybe it's just a throwaway word for her, or maybe a word some Republican handler from up north injected in her commentary.

Vicente Gonzalez is no leftist.

He's a middle-of-the-roader, the personification of an adept bureaucrat. He looks like the guy in the office who will fix colleague mistakes and get the job done. It's what voters want! He's that guy!!

Does Mayra, a healthcare graduate of South Texas Community College in McAllen, look at Vicente Gonzalez and see Che Guevara? Or perhaps Mario Savio, the agitator who led the 1960s student protests at UC-Berkeley? Those two definitely were leftists.

Vicente Gonzalez?

In a novel or Hollywood movie, he's the congressman who rose from middle school principal to tackle politics and clean-up Washington, D.C. Musical soundtrack by Horst Jankowski. Co-starring Eva Longoria as his wife.

Leftist?

Obscenity!!!...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...Los Bukis And The Soundtrack Of My Days Writing About Mexico..."Que Mala"...

PLAY DEEP:...In Congressional District 34, Rumor Of War...Busy Bee Incumbent Vicente Gonzalez Posts An Accomplishment, Republican Opponent Mayra Flores Digs On Him...Cue The Mariachi...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

HARLINGEN, Texas |...The Democrat was in town to announce a $4.5 million cash injection into the Rio Grande Valley economy. By way of repairs and improvements of Valley International Airport here. He, as he often does, noted the benevolence on his Facebook Page, as did Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda on hers. It wasn't long before someone threw cold water on the moment.

That would be one Mayra Flores, the Republican candidate in Vicente Gonzalez's 34th Congressional District election this next November.

This was the announcement from incumbent Gonzalez: [ "Yesterday was a monumental day as we broke ground on the new air traffic control tower at Valley International Airport in the City of Harlingen. I was proud to secure $4.5 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to improve air traffic safety and efficiency. Grateful for the collaboration with FAA, Mayor Sepulveda, and local leaders. This project marks a significant advancement for our community's infrastructure." #TX34 ]

So far, so good.

A local politician doing what he's sent to Washington, D.C. to do - working daily for his constituents and making sure monies doled out by Congress includes some for the district back home.

Yeah. Bang the drum one more time.

Cat-quick came Miss Flores in chiming-in, posting this on Gonzalez's Facebook page: [ Mayra Flores - Congressman Vicente Gonzalez has voted to send billions overseas then into his own district but takes credit when pennies make it. ]

We should, of course, note that Miss Flores, who served a brief six-months stint in Congress during the second half of 2022 after winning a Special Election before losing to Gonzalez in the General that same year, also brought home the bacon in this fashion.

Her share in a spending bill that year delivered $4 million, also for the Harlingen Airport. We must also note that these did not come from stand-alone legislation but were included in Bills that awarded monies to most other sectors of the country.

But we're into the campaign season, boys. And even the slightest dig has a chance of getting a vote or two, so we'll be seeing much more of these as the days, weeks and months wear on. The gung-ho Miss Flores is a regular contributor to Gonzalez's Facebook page; he does not reciprocate.

Whether that's a winning strategy for Republican Flores is anybody's guess. My feeling is that a public debate or two or three would serve the constituency much better.

We'll keep tabs on this particular race, as we're sure the current heat will eventually rival the biggest of volcano eruptions...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...From My Days Writing About Mexico, The Songs of Marco Antonio Solís..."Así Como Te Conocí."

SUNBEAMS:..."Season Of The Girls"...Lesbian Love In A Cowboy Bar...Last Taxi To Town...Why Would The Barkeep Bristle?...The Gals Didn't Care...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |....Marcy and Janet worked together for a year before they flitted out to a Boys-happy neighborhood bar, drank up a storm, danced upclose and apart before deciding they'd fallen in love.

This sorta upset the gents at the bar, as Janet was a looker.

Bartender Willie Joe Nelson bristled, but stayed quiet.

"Not many women come here with other women," he said, addressing steady customer Lloyd Hawkings, a long-haired 76-year-old widower from New Jersey with an overload of testosterone.

Marcy was the pliant wife in this story, it seems. You could tell just by looking at her, the petite body and rural haircut being big clues. No one hollered the worst of names at them inside The Lonesome Cowboy bar, but thoughts of wonderment swirled like caged damnation jailed inside a skull.

When the evening's last call came, a goodnight musical of whooping and hollering enveloped the joint, glasses and bottles were raised and Marcy and Janet stole away into the night.

Love, love, love is all you need, they sang to each other once in the car...

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SUPREME COURT:......Hearings On Presidential Immunity Offer Several Clues...Don't Expect The Obvious...This Republican-Led Court Is Up To No Good...Look At Roberts, Thomas And Alito...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...What to make of the Supreme Court's hearings on Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity in that Capitol Building riot? On its face, the ongoing hearings are a good example of Democracy at work, only, wild as it may sound, some justices are not thinking that way.

Five justices - Chief John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch - are looking in another direction, one that will help oft-indicted Trump.

The nation's high court will weigh its three options and issue a ruling soon, or much later. That has some meaning to Trump.

First, it could grant Trump his immunity, which the court will not do. Secondly, it could delay its ruling so that Trump's insurrection trial could not happen before the November General Election, one in which Trump will be the Republican Party nominee.

This from thenation.com about the third option: [ Remanding the case back to the DC Circuit. This is the option that causes maximum delay of Trump’s reckoning, allowing him to avoid it entirely if he wins the next election, while still preserving the court’s ability to say that blanket immunity is unconstitutional later down the line, should Trump lose. Remand is therefore the best possible option for the Republican justices if they want to see a Republican president elected in November — and at oral arguments, most of them signaled that’s exactly what they’re going to do. ]

It strikes me that in all possible rulings, Trump comes out ahead.

Are we okay with that? The five justices in question were all appointed by Republican presidents, two of these five by Trump, himself. That has to mean for something. I mean, isn't ideology a prerequisite?

Once not that long ago, it was generally believed that the U.S. Supreme Court was above politics, that it did its work without fealty to anyone, presidents included. Richard M. Nixon ring a bell? He didn't even think about trying to go for presidential immunity before he resigned and Gerald Ford pardoned him.

These days, more and more, the Supreme Court is an activist court.

That it grabbed for a shot at the immunity claim after an Appeals Court ruled Trump absolutely did not have immunity is a clear clue. No, Maria, this Republican-led court was going to insist on getting the last say. That is where we are as April ends and May falls on us. A ruling is not expected until summer, or maybe much later - both helping Trump delay the insurrection trial until after the election.

My take is this: Okay, go ahead and help the guy, but what of your reputation? You may be fine if he wins. If Trump loses, you'll only look like used and abused partisan hacks.

And, by the way, you're about there...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...Romance From The Soul Vault..."Can I Change My Mind"...

SOMEONE'S GOTTA WIN:...Six Short Months To Go...Entire Nation On Edge Of Seats...Down To The Sunless Sea...Joe Biden Or Donald Trump...Vicente Or Mayra...Monica Or Michelle...Bohemia, Corona Or Budweiser...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Angry talk moves like wheels falling off an aging garbage truck. Noisy and dangerous. Dogs no longer bark. They know. Cats, too. Birds have flown over to the island. Wives are stocking up on Ranch Style canned beans and soups. Men are drinking as never before.

The nasty election looms.

Grandpa used to say times and the future would be better. He's been dead since 2016. What are we to do? Is there hope for America or are we merely going full doom & gloom here. When is the last time you squashed an ant with your boot heels just because it was there?

Wearing your thoughts on your sleeve these days, there at the ready? Come at me 'cause I like Joe Biden whenever you're up to it. Digging on me 'cause I'm Brown and for Trump? Drop your guard, homeboy! This one is for malaria, the forgotten disease.

Will antsy Republican Mayra Flores climb that mountain and knock incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzales off his 34th Congressional District perch this time? She's into it hot & heavy, we hear. Sharp-as-a-nail Democrat Michelle Vallejo doing the same against Republican Single Mom Monica De la Cruz in our 15th Congressional District.

Hey, it's the bottom of the fourth inning in all of this. Who's ahead in these three contests, all being played in local, adjoining ballfields. The crowds are not roaring, not in support, no. That noise coming from the stands, the upper decks, is not applause or feet in a synchronized stomping. The wave as yet has no color.

We Americans love our sports, and politics is it right now. Anyone following the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs? No? I thought so. Boring baseball? No, again. Waiting on muddy football? Perhaps.

One thing is clear here: Someone will win.

Politics offers no ties, no sharing of the crown. Biden is up, Trump is on trial. Vicente Gonzales is plotting, Mayra Flores should have spent the last two years wring a book, autobiographical and on policy. Monica De La Cruz is still unsure of her Republican wings. She's not MAGA, so how low is she on the congressional totem pole. Opponent Michelle Vallejo is all-Valley, even owning a flea market in puro-Valley Alton.

I could give you odds on these three races.

But I'll wait until the dusty corner jukebox in this rolling cantina stops playing those scratchy records of intoxicating cumbias better suited for another day...

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MADE IN THE SHADE:...Hot Temperatures Almost Here...What To Do?...Does The Brain Handle It?...Is Your Body Simply Attuned?...Climate Change And The Thermostat At War...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...How important is the state of the environment to you? Do you dress according to the day's weather forecast? Like many, do you buy clothing by the season?

Are you a rain or a sunshine person? You must know.

I know that every now and then I need a little shade in my day. It may be after a nice, long walk. Or it may be after a jog, after a morning discussing/trashing politics with the old gang at the breakfast restaurant we all like.

Handy, pretty-much-everywhere shade will do something to the brain, hence something to the body and the body's eventual, however-long outlook.

At times I look for roomy shade off a business front's overhang while on my walks. At others, it may be soft, swaying shade off a leafy tree in the park near my home. I'm glad it's there.

I need it and that it's there is a good thing. Sometimes, all you want is a respite from whatever is out to take over your time. The sun can be a bear at this time of the year, up there salivating as the long, hot summer begins.

Find your time in the shade...

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AMERICAN TAPESTRY:...Life In A Gutless, Runaway Country...Politics At The End Of A Gun...No Time For Laughs...We Can All Use A Drink...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas |...Once, I used to think this world was nothing more than the universe's side-of-the-road outhouse. There were many clues someone could use to point to that. I chose to just think it and believe it.

What was it Moses said ahead of his journey to Egypt: "Lordy Lord, I'd rather be the morning DJ at WKRP."

In any case, my assessment of life on this planet dives every other day. I feel good killing a greasy cheeseburger and Scotch at my favorite bar and then I reel at the crap I must face before I can do it again. There has to be a better life after this life.

My former girlfriend Laura has been drinking again. I mean, really drinking. Where once she would happily buy six-packs of fruited yogurt (banana, black cherry), she now buys her beer in quarts. I do admire her for that, as most women for some reason disdain beer bottles of such an imposing size.

Laura chugs it while watching Judge Judy on TV in the afternoon.

She laughs and offers biting commentary during the show, always anti-defendant. When I first met her some eight years ago, she was a fine woman, or as most Texas men would say, "A right-nice piece of ass."

Today, she is an alcoholic. No meetings for her. She likes being a lush. I admire her for that, too. Laura knows, she damned-straight knows she also lives in this ragged, God-abandoned planet.

At popular Kelly's Lounge tonight, I'll spring for a few rounds, sit back and talk some memorable romance with her and watch Laura fall into the Greatest of Abysses.

The deep as all-get-out Mariana Trench over in the Pacific has nothing on alcoholic depths...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...More Cool Memories Of The Road..."Please Come To Boston"...

AND WE WILL ALL GO DOWN TOGETHER:......... Trials(s) Of Donald Trump A Drag On America...Ship This Entire Embarrassment To El Salvador...Citizens Scared To Serve On Jury?...Hang Fire!...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...We keep telling ourselves we're not gonna take it anymore. Trump crapola, we mean. Trial's arrival is good, only how much longer do we have to carry this barf bag around? There are few answers we like. this, we're told, will go on for months.

Are you into it?

Some of my friends say they have bailed-out on the day-to-day news coverage, now waiting simply on the trial's verdict. As one put it, "We know all the damned facts, so judge his ass!"

I suspect that many of my fellow Americans agree with that exhaled sentiment.

Defendant Donald J. Trump has taken the air out of the room. He's a hero and a villain to the grass-whorled population. Wyoming went all in on incredibly-flawed Trump's presidential aspirations yesterday, its Republican contingent collaring a state convention to say it's Trump or Bust.

We'll see. Hey, Summer isn't even here yet and already even the local humidity feels good. Anything to shake the citizen doldrums, to make one believe there is more to this dragging movie. Is criminal Trump all we are anymore? Seems so, Maria.

Seems so.

I'll gather my thoughts as I head into our weekly discussion meeting at the restaurant tomorrow, only it does get tiring to round up all-things-Trump. It's like trying to pick up a carton of cracked eggs, the one the H-E-B delivery lady dropped on my front step.

You do it.

I have grown used to using that sentence - You do it! - out of, I say to myself, self-defense. We all grow old and, as Willie Nelson likes to say, "It gets easier - to say, not today."

So, excuse me while I take a break here, while I go shave and look for that one shirt that always makes me feel good about myself. Shake my hair in place, step into my faded jeans and harness boots. The day's supposed to clear up by 9:00 A.M., the time of day I like to stroll into my restaurant to a round of, not applause, but what the French call "ennui." It shakes out, too, as soon as the rabble-rousers in the group show up to act out their idea of Life.

We'll throw out some stuff on Trump and then segue into something else, often the local.

Now, if only we could vote to move all of Trump's trials down to Central America, where they are used to such attacks on humanity. Donald J. Trump would be a great president of El Salvador! There, he could abscond with the millions in foreign aid El Salvador gets from the U.S.

And no one would care.

Excuse me, my Uber ride is here...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox...A Wagonload Of Memories..."Just To See Her"...

BURNING MAN:...He Blamed Politicians For Much Of What Ails America...Conspiracies All Over The Place...Max Azzarello Decided To Flame-Out In A Park Near Courthouse Where Trump Is On Trial...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Opening statements hit the floor this morning in the Hush Money Trial of one Donald J. Trump, although, well, there are a few other events that could also fall into that category. Opening statement. Now, there's a cool phrase. It portends so much.

Was news of Trump's indictments also an opening statement, of sorts? His arraignment and mugshot in the Georgia case? That beatdown by the New York Appeals Court on Trump's wild claim of absolute immunity? Or maybe the real one will come after Thursday's gathering of the U.S. Supreme Court at which that "immunity" thing will be resolved once and for all?

Or maybe it was that bizarre (maybe not so bizarre) self-immolation last Friday by that 37-year-old Florida man at a New York City park near the courthouse where Trump is on trial. See photo above.

For dramatic effect, the sight of a dude setting himself on fire has to be up there as an opening statement, to perhaps the entire grass-whorled country being on trial. 

From NYmag.com: [ The man who set himself on fire across the street from the Manhattan courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial has died. Max Azzarello, 37, was pronounced dead at a city hospital early Saturday, according to police. The act of self-immolation was not directly related to the trial: He wrote in paranoid manifesto that he took his own life to bring attention to a set of conspiratorial beliefs.

Azzarello’s life began to unravel after the death of his mother.

According to the New York Times, people who know Azzarello say he seemed to have succumbed to paranoid thoughts in recent years, particularly after losing his mother to an illness in 2022:

A closer look at the path the man had traveled to this moment of self-destruction revealed a recent spiral into volatility, one marked by a worldview that had become increasingly confusing and disjointed - and appeared to be unattached to any political party. His social media postings and arrest records suggest the immolation stemmed instead from a place of conspiracy theories and paranoia.

At the park on Thursday, Azzarello had held up various signs and at one point shouted toward a group of reporters gathered there: "Biggest scoop of your life or your money back!" One of his signs claimed that Trump and President Biden were "about to fascist coup us."

In a rambling street interview that day, he said his critical views of the American government were shaped by his research into Peter Thiel, the technology billionaire and political provocateur who is a major campaign donor, and into cryptocurrency.

"Donald Trump’s in on it," Azzarello said on Thursday. "It’s a secret kleptocracy, and it can only lead to an apocalyptic fascist coup."

Some of the pamphlets Azzarello threw in the air before setting himself ablaze on Friday referred to New York University as a "mob front" and also mentioned former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount. Another of his pamphlets contained anti-government conspiracy theories, though they did not point in a discernible political direction.

NYPD said Azzarello entered the small park at 100 Centre Street surrounded by police barricades at 1:30 p.m. He was then observed rustling through a backpack, grabbing several pamphlets, and scattering them throughout the park. Then he reached for a canister containing some form of alcohol-based accelerant, poured it over himself, and lit himself on fire. ]

Opening statements?

Perhaps the entire country is on trial this week. This man opted to torch himself in as painful a death as there is. So public. So dramatic. So stinky and final.

Maybe that's where we're at as a nation these days...Something tells me there is no sadness for the death of Democracy, either...

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MONICA'S VERBIAGE:...District 15 Congresswoman Ditzes-Out Explanation...She Voted Against Aiding Ukraine, But Says She Strongly Supports Its Right To Defend Itself...Fix My Border, She Crows...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Politicians have their own English language. Definition of terminology, we mean. You can watch and listen, believe you hear familiar words...and then it's been altered, changed, watered-down, used and abused.

Take District 15 Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, the 50-year-old incumbent Republican. We fully believe she knows the language her constituents speak, both Spanish and English. Indeed, she has the look of an elementary school teacher. That's Monica chatting with two of her backers in the photo above.

We sort of support much of what she has said about the border, but we again reel at her acrobatic act when explaining her votes. This is the same congressperson who voted for a bill decrying the "Horrors of Socialism," even in the face of - how many? - Boeing and farmer bailouts.

Oh, well. Perhaps she's not as smart as we thought she was.

This from Monica De La Cruz after the House of Representatives approved a $60 billion aid package for war-torn Ukraine, currently under assault from neighboring Russia, the MAGA Republican's latest foreign ally: [ "I strongly support Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s aggression. However, given the pressing issues we face - from the border crisis to urgent domestic needs, all amid escalating national debt - I could not in good conscience vote for the significant increase in spending proposed by this act without guarantees of bolstering our own border security." ]

No financial aid for Ukraine?

How else would you wish to help them, Monica? Send over a planeload of Delia's Tamales?

Get real.

Even House Speaker Mike Johnson voted for the Ukraine Aid!

We're disappointed. Ukraine is an ally and, as with good friends, well, when asked for help you have to help as much as you can. Sixty million is peanuts for the USA! Yes, we have a deficit, a growing one at that. But we've had it since Republican George W. Bush took our last budget surplus left by Democrat Bill Clinton and spent it like a drunk sumbitch...it has only grown since then.

We have not seen any proposed legislation from Miss De La Cruz, a single Mom, addressing that ballooning deficit. Well? Throw some jumbled English at me, girl!

And while we're at it, Monica, from what we have seen, has only barked like a cute Pomeranian about the Mexican border. I say she should gather her thoughts - in English - and offer a solution to what her fellow Republican Greg Abbott, the governor, insists is still an "invasion" of immigrants.

Monica De La Cruz, bless her heart, has no answers.

She's the proverbial go-along, a reliable Party Girl...

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LIFE IN THESE UNITED STATES:...From Banking Comes A Lifeline For That DEI Concept...Chase Bank, The Largest In The Entire World, Takes The Lead On Backing It...Republicans Want It Gone...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The other day, some right-wing nutcase blamed Boeing's ongoing problems with its commercial airliners on the concept of DEI, the sort of old acronym for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, that stuff that makes this grass-whorled immigrant nation go round and round.

A Republican congressman threw out his thoughts that perhaps DEI need not be used in the higher echelons of our military's leadership.

Florida's Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is all-in on eliminating DEI considerations on all state government hirings, as is, we should note, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. It's a baffler, yes. When did that become a problem?

It isn't.

It's part & parcel a move by far-right Republicans to keep jobs and jobholders from one sector of our population. Need I say it. I should, but let's keep thinking we're intelligent people around here, citizens who can read and make the accurate deductions. Man, that Texas Legislature leadership is just too damned White. Over at the University of Texas-Austin, administrators are rushing to comply with the governor's DEI directive.

True shit, as John Wayne would say about here.

But it is the business world that may not fall-in as readily as angling politicians eager to do this and that to stay alongside the extremists in our midst.

Like Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon.     

This from axios.com: [ In his shareholder letter last week, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon actually talked about his bank's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, though he didn't use the now-reviled DEI abbreviation.

Dimon's words stand out at a time when most CEOs have gone silent - or openly hostile - on these programs, amid widespread backlash.

In his surprising, unexpected letter, Dimon touted a range of programs - from resource groups for employees who are Black, LGBTQ+, or have disabilities to a fund aimed at helping needed entrepreneurs of color, investments in rural communities, and recruiting efforts at historically Black colleges and universities.

He also said that the $30 billion racial equity commitment the bank made in 2020 was "nearly completed" and would become a permanent part of the business.

"We're thoughtfully continuing our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts," he wrote, adding that they'll work to ensure programs conform as the laws evolve around these issues.

In his letter, Dimon says these diversity efforts are good for business. ]

Uh, there it is. Ultimately, as always, all of our crazed pussyfooting political foreplay ends up being held accountable by the all-mighty dollar. We hate that Hispanic-owned used car lot flying the Mexican flag over on the highway in town, but we'll take the sales tax, baby!

Dimon knows corporate America may not altogether be on his side.

But he's fully aware of the all-important bottom line...A greenback is a greenback no matter who presents it to the teller, whether a White, a Black, a Brown, or a dog trained to do it by its whimsical master...

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