Travel Story:..."Brownsville Is Not New Orleans"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Once there was a way, as the song says, to get back homeward. We hate to rip off such a well-known song lyric, but, well, it applies to this story. Homeward, in this case, being a place from yesteryear. Or someone's recollections of a better time here along the passive Rio Grande.

We say passive because that's what this history-filled waterway is today, although it wasn't always as resigned to a lamblike sort of quiet.

To hear some local people, Brownsville used to be the First New Orleans, a scrappy, noisy, excitable, wild-and-hairy-adventures-by-the-day kind of place where men were men and women were for men.

Today's Brownsville is nothing like that.

It is a struggling hometown to some 200,000, or so, luckless, under-achievers who really have done little to bridge this city into the 1980s. Any semblance to the Real New Orleans is nowhere to be found. A few cheap Mexican-themed cantinas does nothing for the city's modern image except tie-in to neighboring Mexico and not the Cajun Country a bit to the north and east of here.

You can walk into a local cantina and smell Mexico, not, say, etouffee or crawfish pie. 

Here, it's the grating, wailing, often-repetitive, push-button accordion sounds of Ramon Ayala on falling 14th Street and not those of Doug Kershaw whipping out Diggy Diggy Lo on Mardi Gras in the lovely French Quarter. Or even some weekend troubadours offering a lame version of All Along The Watchtower and not Fogerty throwing out Jambalaya.

No, don't come here looking for the past.

Proud locals will tell you this is a most historic town, but we say they should go to the Texas Hill Country for that. A line of old, abandoned buildings vacated decades ago is not exactly cherished history. Old theaters where once the movies of Gary Cooper and Elvis regaled the dominant Mexican population are hardly worth keeping if they're not going to show Top Gun or Oppenheimer.

Why not raze the sonsabitches and build a new commercial attraction?

History? As hometown celebrity Kris Kristofferson might say about here, "History's just another word for nothing left to lose."

Brownsville is not a very clean community. Even its residents bemoan the state of their streets and the trash in downtown alleys and neighborhoods such as Southmost and Las Prietas. Would New Orleans icon Fats Domino play in Brownsville? Well, maybe if he hadn't died in 2017, although we believe he largely stuck around NOLA, as New Orleans is best-known, in his later years.

No, lads, you have to pinch your nose when out and about in Brownsville - the Harlem of The Valley.

Is anyone at City Hall doing anything to move things around, to somehow improve life in town? You drive in and you see a load of people scurrying about, always bound for a nearby taqueria or discount store. You get out of your vehicle downtown and it's a sight for newcomer Honduran eyes, at best.

There should be a plan for change, major change.

People working city government get paid extremely well, perhaps much better than they should be. But all the citizenry is getting is daily lip service and the status quo - the status quo being maintaining what Donald J. Trump would quickly call "a shithole".

And it's not as if anyone would come here and then go back home to write a "slam job," but there really is no major attraction here. An annual celebration of the Mexican Charro is it, Baby. And even that gets a few more boos every year. It's become boring because it's the same predictable roll-out that once worked-up emotions but now hardly excites anyone.

Horses? You've seen one horse and you've seen them all. Charro garb? Looks good in thin women, never on portly, mustachioed Mexican males.  

Innovation is what that festival needs, which fits in with what we'd say also applies to the city as a whole. Everyone knows few people from Harlingen and McAllen on the western end of the Rio Grande Valley ever look to hardscrabble Brownsville for shopping, dining or fun. They'd rather stay home, Brownsville's history as uninteresting as fog.

The old city remains an unsolved riddle.

And that's the tragedy of the Town That Time Forgot...

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Hurricane Hilary Targets California & The West...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It was - what? - only a few months ago that the water level of Lake Mead over Hoover Dam was dangerously low, the Colorado River barely a picture of its old bountiful self and the American West said to be dying of thirst.

Welcome Hurricane Hilary.

Rains, rains, and more rains are on tap for Southern California, Arizona and Nevada as it makes landfall after storming in over Baja California in neighboring Mexico.

This from axios.cm: [ Tropical Storm Hilary is bringing the likelihood of "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" to California, while prompting unprecedented tropical storm warnings for Los Angeles and San Diego.

Threat level: The storm is dumping two years or more worth of rain in California's desert areas. It is also bringing tropical rainfall rates, which can be torrential, to areas that have rarely, if ever, experienced them.

California is now under a state of emergency, and evacuations away from the most vulnerable areas to mudslides, debris flows and other hazards are expected today in southern California especially.

In its 5pm ET advisory, the National Hurricane Center said tropical storm-force winds are now being felt in Southern California, and a Weather Service bulletin reported wind gusts as high as 78 mph in mountain areas.

The Weather Prediction Center has painted a large zone in southern California and Southwestern Nevada as facing a "high risk" of excessive rainfall and flash flooding on Sunday, including San Bernardino National Forecast, Death Valley, Barstow, Indio, and Palmdale, Calif. ]

In Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas), a State of Emergency was declared at midday Sunday. Heavy rains were expected overnight.

It is night & day out there. One month you can't get a raindrop, the next the sky is falling on you.

These are strange days, what with Hawaii still dealing with the huge wildfire that destroyed Maui's lovely tourist town of Lahaina just last week.

Sheeeeeeesh.

What region is next on the Disaster List?...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Some news outlets are calling it a Tropical Storm. The Los Angeles Times and the Arizona Republic are calling it a hurricane, as we have decided...]

SUN STORIES:..."This One Was Not The Jealous Type"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Jerry McLain went for it. Love had taken a nasty turn and he'd been alone for now going on six long years. Wife Valeria had passed on and three younger girlfriends that followed had only wanted his money.

What the Hell to do?

A friend at work turned him to a glossy Asian magazine featuring Ads for sophisticated rubber dolls. Jerry was intrigued by how realistic they looked and was further spurred by the manner in which they were portrayed in numerous sexy photographs. He had the ready cash.

The online Ad offered various models, some skinny, some full-bodied, ranging in price from $499 to a bit over a grand-five. He had liked the one set in the alluring sleeping-alongside-me pose.

South Texas nights once full of partying and laughter had grown lonelier, depressing and unrelenting in their awful mood. One day, after watching a football game between Notre Dame and Sacramento State on TV, he went online and quickly ordered the Sleeper Babe for almost $950, with a hefty overseas shipping fee.

He'd never been with non-white women and was suddenly entranced by the natural beauty of the Japanese women. Such calmed daintiness about them, their silky white legs and breasts as tantalizing as a generous slice of pineapple upside down cake on a cold, winter's night.

That first night after he'd unboxed the doll, anxious Jerry went to bed early. First, he wanted to know if things would change. A full year of being celibate was wearing thin.

Shortly after midnight as a wicked thunderstorm roared through town, he found himself reaching for her in a very marital way...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:..."Sun Stories" is a feature we generally offer only on weekends...]

Brownsville Went For It And Lost Big Time...Good!!!...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | So, a lot of people in Brownsville are down in the dumps after news reports arrived here detailing no gain from its love affair with billionaire Elon Musk and his SpaceX venture.

Why?

Yes, there were dreams that went to a collective enrichment, what with new companies and more people coming to town. It didn't pan out. Not yet, anyway. And there are no signs that it will, but you never know.

Rockets have left the launching pad in nearby Boca Chica, pleasing Musk.

According to multiple news reports, The City of Brownsville has lost cash kinda bankrolling some of these businesses that promised to help in the effort to piggyback with SpaceX's success. Was it all for naught? Is it a lose-lose eventuality.

Not really.

But Brownsville is a town full of Big Dreamers. Some want this scrappy bordertown at the end of the Rio Grande to be another partying New Orleans (not happening), while still others say the future here is in a tiny junior college (Texas Southmost College). A few more say the best is yet to come. They cite a largely-useless international airport and what it could mean if it ever gets off the runway.

Let the space industry critics howl all they want. It was good for Brownsville to seek improvement and especially in its business model. Selling used clothing (Ropa Usada!!!) downtown has not meant for much. What's the sales tax revenue on a pair of ragged blue jeans, on weathered shoes or a stained coat?

Nothing much.

Dare to go on with life, Brownsville!

Defeat, you know. All you have left is the decision to keep going, to never look in the rear-view mirror of the old Buick, to keep stepping into the ring. Every loss improves your odds for winning the next one.

No money in SpaceX-related businesses?

It was - and still is - a shocking development, but why cry about it at this point. The local critics will hang you by your fingernails and the bloggers will blame the mayor and his friendship with Musk and his effort to himself draw from the city's business-supporting entities. Well, let them.

Let them keep blaming you, keep yelling at you from the sidewalk as you make it up the streets.

Losing is not losing until you give up, until you shut it down and never again take the field. The Rio Grande Valley is so down because it simply will not take chances in the business world. McAllen does better than the other RGV cities, but it, too, could do more.

My friend Carlos Cascos, the former county judge and Texas Secretary of State, noted on his Facebook page that this (Brownsville's painful acknowledgement that SpaceX has not benefitted it) is what happens when you don't properly vet vendors and companies in these sorts of efforts.

The thing is Brownsville, like many in the RGV, was giddy at having Elon Musk and his space company in town. Vetting? Ha ha ha. Why Maria, we're going sky-high with SpaceX! We're along for the ride. How high will we fly?

As high as SpaceX, for sure!

It didn't happen. Big bucks were misused, thrown away essentially. That's never a good thing and never in a winning business plan. Do hand out the blame. There is quite a bit, enough for more individuals other than Mayor Juan "Trey" Mendez, however. The former mayor is shown in photo atop this story.

But be glad you could go for it.

You know every other city and town in the Rio Grande Valley would have done the same...

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Dream City:...Brownsville Waiting On Nothing...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | So, where are we in the excitable Space Race, Brownsville? Steady launches, a manned mission to Mars planned from SpaceX's Boca Chica launching pad? Tremendous, unbridled growth in town related to the out-of-this-world venture?

Uh, no.

Nothing like that. Actually, nothing at all.

Up-with-the-latest-news Resident Carlos Cascos, a former county judge here, posted a revealing article prepared by Texas Public Radio reporter Gaige Davila, dated August 18 on his busy Facebook page. It is not a pretty picture the report paints of what's come out of the city's effort to become a one-industry town.

It begins ominously, of course.

[During the height of SpaceX fever in Brownsville, city officials rephrased the city's motto, “On the border, by the sea,” by adding, “and beyond.”

Brownsville claimed it was on its way to becoming the new “Silicon Valley of Space.” Officials publicized the arrival of space industry startups and venture capital funds. However, a recent compliance audit conducted by the city suggested that few of the companies publicized by officials remain today.

The audit, which describes a partnership between the city's economic development corporation and 9Point8 Capital, a venture capital firm, found that some of the businesses that promised to set up shop in Brownsville may have never established themselves after their publicized arrivals. ]

But it wasn't solely 9Point8. There were a handful of other companies arriving here, drawn by visions of quick, easy money from City Hall. They got it and...never produced.

The TPR report runs through the various efforts undertaken by the City of Brownsville to welcome the progress. It never came.

The in-depth article at TPR.org is well-worth the time it takes to read through the serpentine mess that's still unfurling. SpaceX has said it has now scheduled its next launch, but did not give a date. It seems to be where it wants to be in relation to its local mission.

Brownsville?

Not so much...

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Sun Stories:..."Blood, Baby"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | What had Amelia ever done, to you or anyone else? Nothing was the definitive word that always came back, in small talk and long conversation. At 39, she was still a good-looking woman. Married for a little more than 18 years. Two kids, one a teenager.

When her neighbors talked about her it was always as if describing a loving sibling. Amelia herself would often say life was simply too precious to ruin. Life in poor Brownsville had depressed her in the beginning, after moving here with her new husband from McAllen 60 miles to the west. She toughed it out, however, as she helped husband Felipe Torres fashion his career.

In church, she led the mixed choir. At her job at the bank, she'd been named "Employee of The Month" 11 times. Men and moms at the Little League games she attended to watch her son pitch, all said they admired her conviction, her visible desire to make sure youngest son Harvey never missed a practice or a game.

Not that anyone in her circle had ever looked deeply into her life.

Everybody figured things were more than fine inside her sprawling, two-story home in the city's best neighborhood. So, it was a true-blue shock when a news report on local TV had it that her banker husband, Felipe, had been viciously beaten to death in his bed while he slept.

Felipe ran the most successful branch bank in town, an operation much larger than that offered by the smaller regional bank that employed Amelia. In the days that followed, additional news reports unfurled the sordid story of an affair between Amelia and the male head of her bank, how she'd fallen in love with him and how Amelia had spiked Felipe's dinner cocktail one night and later pummeled him to death in their bed.

Police said a crotchless black panty had been stuffed in his mouth, offering a clue to something else that may have soiled the marriage...

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SUN RECORDS: Staff Jukebox - "Tennessee Flat Top Box"...

For Candidate Ron DeSantis, A Fork In The Road...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Next Wednesday's debate will tell the tale of Ron DeSantis and his presidential bid. It's that tenuous, 50-50. He'll either score enough points to salvage a collapsed campaign, or he'll go full-bust and ship the travel luggage home.

It's where this guy is today.

As many as nine 2024 presidential candidates may make the August 23rd debate in Milwaukee. Ron DeSantis hopes to star that night, especially if indictments-saddled Donald J. Trump is a no-show, as he has threatened.

This about that from politico.com: [ Thanks to his stunning 20-point reelection as governor of Florida, cementing the formerly purple state as a Republican stronghold, Ron DeSantis entered the presidential primary as the prospective preeminent challenger to Donald Trump. Just three months into his frankly disappointing campaign, however, DeSantis axed a slew of terminally online staffers and embraced the adversarial media that made him a rising star in the first place, promising his donors a proper pivot into a campaign capable of beating the incumbent, Democrat Joe Biden.

Hence, a leaked memo from pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down is frankly baffling.

"There are four basic must-dos," the memo says. "1. Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times. 2. State [DeSantis's] positive vision 2-3 times. 3. Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response. 4. Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack."

What the hell? ]

Lost in the strategy outlined in the memo is the Ron DeSantis who rose to prominence in Florida, the brawler quick to engage corporate biggies such as Disney and entrenched state educators he deemed too-Liberal. Fighting Ron DeSantis disappeared once he began rolling-out his campaign for president.

Defend Donald J. Trump? What will that get him? Nothing. He'll just be seen as another Republican low-flyer kowtowing to Trump. Ass-kissing, in other words.

The memo has been roundly laughed-at by pundits and Republican operatives who saw it as a losing proposition. Following that, did DeSantis say anything about the memo.

No. He didn't even acknowledge it, which was probably wise.

DeSantis needs a strong debate night.

He needs to show he is more than a bagful of emotions. That has led to characterizations of his being a bully and a hothead. Both are no-nos.

Is he - or has he been - presidential?

No.

Big NO...

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SUN STORIES: "How Gina Learned To Bathe Alone"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Gregorio Lopez was gone. Seven months and he was smoke. Didn't say much, except that he was tired, of what, he did not say, and that there had to be a better town down the road. His mother always said Gregorio was a man of few words when angry.

Gina Salinas was broken-hearted. No more accompanied meals, no more warm bedtime companion. She would miss that, but she would miss more the times she and Gregorio had showered together. There was something all-too-human in bathing with your mate, cleansing each other with favored soap, Gina her perfumed and Gregorio his Hai Karate soap-on-a-rope.

Gregorio had insisted on it early-on, back in initial dating, when he had been mesmerized by her naked body. Time and access had cooled that to almost zero. He'd not had an ounce of romantic interest in Gina by the time he decided to split for San Antonio, where his kid brother owned a motorcycle repair shop. He'd land a job there.

What kinda chunky Gina did not quite know just then was that her untethered happiness always had been headed towards this sort of ending. Men simply cannot love the same thing forever, is what Gregorio had said in a cursive-written note he'd left folded inside a glass on her kitchen table. She had found it while changing the Bed, Bath & Beyond tablecloth, sat down to read it and placed it on her chest in a moment of genuine sadness.

At nightfall, she walked into the quiet bathroom and reached for the shower's glass door, opened it and stepped-in to cool water splashing as happily as ever, and then she stood languidly under the waterfall for long minutes before releasing a miles-long sigh.

Gina reached for the loofah and felt comforted in knowing that it was still there...

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Generation Of Swine:...Trump Pigging Out...No Jail, Not Yet...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | So, okay legal eagles, what if Donald J. Trump gets the Republican Party's nomination and wins the 2024 national election? Can he pardon himself? Can he beat the 91 charges against him, both federal and state charges and, effectively, stay out of prison? Maybe.

Good chance on one, yes.

Not so much on the other.

Lawyers and those in the know will tell you Trump would be able to rid himself of the federal (Department of Justice) charges, but not the State of Georgia ones, not as easily anyway. 

This about that from politico.com: [ Though the Fulton County, Georgia case against Trump may be "pardon-proof," the Supreme Court could potentially intervene if he wins the 2024 presidential election.

Trump would not be able to issue pardons because it is a state matter and Georgia's constitution prevents the state's governor from issuing pardons in the case. Only a state pardon board can issue pardons, and requests can only be made five years after a sentence is served.

But while the case is pardon-proof, the Supreme Court "may well hold a sitting president is immune from trial" or a conviction if he wins the election, New York University Law Prof. Ryan Goodman wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The result would be "18 co-defendants left holding the bag" while Trump would be immune for four years if he is elected, he wrote.

"Another reason for co-defendants to flip," Goodman added. ]

Wild, eh? But that's our legal system, always the mangrove swamp and nothing ever as clear-cut as it seems. Donald J. Trump has played the offensive and defensive legal games for decades, for most of his adult years. He is now 77 years old. His track record with courts is something to behold - always about stiffing vendors (a piano vendor who delivered a load of pianos to his casino in Atlantic City, for one, never paid) and, when sued himself, delaying, delaying, delaying the court resolution. He's mastered being a court's annoying, deep-pockets defendant.

But the law has allowed it.

So, he now has those 90-some charges related to the 2020 election he tried to overturn and that one case of business fraud in New York. What of it? Is he any closer to jail, which is what a good chunk of America wants?

No, not really.

It could be years before the cases he faces wind their way through the courts (he loves to appeal).

Best would be if he lost the 2024 election, at which point, we say, his entire MAGA cult would fold and drop him, leaving the faithful to scramble for another racist/bigot ahead of the next election.

User and abuser, that's what Trump is and has been...all his life...

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Donald Trump Says He Won't Debate...Wimps Out...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It's a bad move, but, then again, what does a guy with the Midas Touch in Reverse do? Donald J. Trump will not be at the Republican Party's first presidential nomination debate next week.

Oh, well.

Midweek Wednesday nights are not exactly prime time evenings for busy Americans. Hump Day takes on a new meaning here with the Trumpster bailing on hanging with the other GOP candidates, pleasant types like former Veep Mike Pence and impromptu rapper Vivek Ramaswamy, for example.

This from nytimes.com: [ Donald Trump plans to skip the first GOP debate next Wednesday in Milwaukee and will instead do an online interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Sources close to the former president told The Times he has told those close to him he will skip the debate and do the sit down with the former top-rated Fox News host.

The news comes less than 24 hours after Trump wrote on Truth Social that he is polling well ahead of the other candidates, adding, "Reagan didn’t do it, and neither did others. People know my Record, one of the BEST EVER, so why would I Debate?"

The Trump campaign refused to confirm or deny the report. 

"Tucker Carlson has been the plan for some time. But Georgia might change that. Don’t be surprised if he shows up in Atlanta on debate night," said a Trump adviser who recently spoke with him about the options of his debate night whereabouts. ]

We say it's a bad move by legally-cornered Trump. It makes him look afraid, unwilling to engage his punching opponents. Where once he would insist on debating for quick political gain, Trump now fully sees himself as the nomination's heir apparent and to Hell with the dumb contenders.

The thing is Americans want to see their presidential candidates debate. It's not that Trump isn't a favorite; it's just that this uppity, entitled move might rankle a few voters. Will he also decline to debate President Joe Biden before the 2024 election?

Trump is too much of a child to be taken seriously.

If he gets a hair up his ass and feels like he's being portrayed as a wimp by the news media, he'll show up at this debate, is what we would say...

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Dull Mike Pence Going After Trump In First Debate?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Always-dark Mike Pence says he is looking forward to debating Donald J. Trump at next Wednesday's first Republican Party presidential nomination debate in Milwaukee. Yeah, we know. Mike Pence, the White House doorstop when he was vice-president under the same Trump. Quick question: can anyone get a rise out of this dude?

But he now says he's itching to tangle with his old boss.

Trump is undecided about attending the debate, arguing he is the frontrunner and frontrunners don't need the national spotlight. There is some truth in that, although 65-year-old Pence counters he would go after Trump like, well, Trump went after Stormy Daniels.

There's this from thehill.com: [ Pence and Trump broke over the events surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, which interrupted the certification process for the 2020 presidential election after Trump lost to President Joe Biden. Pence has rebuked Trump’s suggestion that the vice president had the ability to overturn the election results. 

"Sometimes people ask me, 'How do you envision debating Donald Trump?' I say, "I’ve debated Donald Trump 1,000 times, just not with the cameras on,' " Pence said today.

The former vice president backed into it by saying he’ll "always be proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration" and touted the pair’s accomplishments - including action on border security and the appointment of three Supreme Court justices "who sent Roe vs. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs."

But he said he disagrees with Trump and other Republicans "wanting to pull back from American leadership" on the global stage, and he knocked Trump for a position on the national debt that’s "identical to Joe Biden’s." ]

Pence, however, (and this is key) has never been a dynamic, in-your-face speaker. Trump's bad-mama brawling style brings the opposite. He'd no doubt throw some silly, though insulting nickname at him at the first opportunity. Pence would only frown and shake his head, like some eternal second banana.

The debate is being sponsored and broadcast by FOX News.

You know they'd side by Trump over the dour-face Pence and hand him the debate questions in advance, as they always do. 

You know it...

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SUN RECORDS: Newsroom Jukebox - "LA CHULA"...

Woman Wears Strange Taco Salad Dress...Who Is She?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | I know, I know. Fashion in the Rio Grande Valley has no father or mother, it's all a loose-knit family of 12 with different fathers. Shake the plastic mannequins at the mall? Well, you can, but always - always - expect Valleyites in clothing that will absolutely blind you.

Like the woman above, who mistook Whataburger Wednesday for Taco Tuesday.

Who is she?

And why would she wear that out in public? We're led to believe that she is a public official down here, but you could put a slingshot to our head, ask us if we know who she is, and we'd fold.

Perhaps one of our readers will tell us.

We're okay with our female politicians wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots. That's Texas. At times, with the right female, it is even sexy. But that dress in the photo above - my, my! Made in 1955 Matamoros?

And me being a Grubhub dude, well, my order at Taco Palenque is already in for today's lunch. Local visuals, the scenery, we mean, do influence us more often than not when looking to dine somewhere. my friend Laura told me she saw a VW Beetle in harvest-brown color and decided on a double-meat at Burger King for her lunch.

Is there rhyme or reason here, to what people opt to wear on any given day?

No, is the initial answer.

Maybe, would say a shrink or two. Mood does the choosing when a woman stands in her expansive closet. What to pick does not necessarily hinge on a looksee out the window.

We have no way of knowing why the woman in the Taco salad dress decided to buy it, or, worse yet, to wear it! And there's a very good chance we'll never have answers for those questions, my friends. Perhaps a Brownsville blog will chase that story.

The Taco salad dress, we're told, was worn to an official public service function.

Wardrobe up!...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Some days, we're a bit snarkier than on others. Know this - It all evens out...]

BIG DREAM:...The Rio Grande Valley As One...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

EDINBURG, Texas | Well, it's something many have long-suggested - Rio Grande Valley political leaders bonding for the common good. They did it here. Even some tough, inhumane Republican dude in a wheelchair showed-up. Came down all the way from Austin for a photo op (see it above) he likely thought would tell people all of these mayors and county judges are with him.

Hope not.

The Rio Grande Valley is a slice of geography as unique as the Middle East's Gaza Strip, or Mexico's Yucatan. It lives and breathes on its own, far from state government, for decades ignored by Texans elsewhere, like in the Legislature.

This explainer from Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda: [ I had the honor and privilege of sharing the stage with Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza, Jr. in delivering the welcome at our very first-ever RGV Economic Summit. 

This historic event brought together 47 mayors representing their respective cities throughout Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy and Starr County with a common purpose - to advance inclusive and sustainable economic growth for South Texas.

This is a pivotal moment for the RGV as we come together as "One Region, One Voice!" ]

Good luck with that One Voice thing, however. Sharing, especially credit, is anathema to politicians. Still, you hope that even some progress on the unity front can come of this.

We say the Rio Grande Valley would be a state powerhouse if it ever became one monster city, or if it even effected half of what this group wishes for the region.

Free Advice: Keep Republican Gov. Greg Abbott out of it.

He's a transitory figure in the Big Scheme of our region. RGV leaders are doing for their communities and their residents.

Abbott is not from here.

Yes, he's governor, but he'll care only so long as it pushes him or his divisive agenda...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...We noticed Mayor Sepulveda did not mention Abbott's presence at this summit. Good for her!...]

That Would Be About Right...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Later this month, kids. Wait on it. It's coming for Enrique Tarrio, so-called leader of the anti-America Proud Boys. Justice, we mean. Payback for that riot at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. That's Tarrio in photo above.

Sentencing day is approaching.

He knows it. But is he ready for the judge's action, for a long prison term? Likely not. Criminals never believe such days will ever come. This one will.

From a news report at Daily Kos: [ The Justice Department is seeking 33 years in prison for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Tarrio, who served as national chairman of the far-right extremist group, and three lieutenants were all convicted by a Washington jury in May of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power in the hopes of keeping Republican Donald Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 election.

Prosecutors are also asking for a 33-year-sentence for one of Tarrio's co-defendants, Joseph Biggs of Ormond Beach, Florida, a self-described Proud Boys organizer.

They are asking the judge to impose a 30-year prison term for Zachary Rehl, who was president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia; 27 years in prison for Ethan Nordean of Auburn, Washington, who was a Proud Boys chapter president; and 20 years for Dominic Pezzola, a Proud Boys member from Rochester, New York.

Tarrio, of Miami, and his co-defendants will be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in a string of hearings starting later this month in Washington’s federal court. ]

It's a heartbreaker for relatives of all these yahoos. For sure.

They likely still live on bravado of being rebels and rebellious...

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Migrants Housed In NYC Jail Where Sex Pervert Jeffrey Epstein Killed Himself?... Maybe...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Talk about ecotourism! Migrants bused to The Big Apple staying at the joint once home to financier/sex pervert Jeffrey Epstein, the wild and crazy guy said to have arranged sexual trysts for Prince Andrew of England, computer brain Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton?

Well, yeah.

Nothing is too good for our migrants after they get kicked up to New York City by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

This from The New York Post: [ Embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Black man shown in photo below) is reportedly turning to the abandoned hellhole prison where Jeffrey Epstein killed himself as a solution to housing the relentless influx of migrants being bused into the Big Apple.

The mayor has scrambled for months to find space for at least 58,000 asylum seekers who have been shuttled to the city from states such as Texas after they crossed the southern border. His latest idea is to next use Manhattan's infamous Metropolitan Correctional Center, often referred to as MCC, which was closed down in 2021 following a slew of scandals and complaints over filthy prison conditions. 

If New York Gov. Kathy Hochul approves his request, refugees mainly from South America will find themselves in a facility with a morbid history plagued by allegations of rat infestations and sewage floods. 

It remains to be seen if Adams will successfully move migrants into the cells, however, after his attempt earlier this year to shift asylum seekers to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal fell apart when the refugees refused to go. ]

It has to be a different sort of Hell to go looking for the Best in America as an asylum-seeker and then find A Movable Hell.

These migrants (men, women and children) now numbering almost 60,000 thousand thanks to a steady string of buses arriving from Texas, are struggling to make sense of the political football they have become.

They are grateful for being allowed entry, but no doubt wonder where the empathy went. 

Deport them!

As cold as it sounds, that would be more humane...

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Impeach Joe Biden? Do It, Republicans! Ha Ha Ha...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It is the story snaking across the nation's ragged capital. Some Republicans want to impeach President Joe Biden, a Democrat. No real reason, other than that they currently hold the majority in the House of Representatives.

That's House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a former yogurt shop owner back home in California, in the photo you see above. He's itching to do to Biden what Democrats did to Donald J. Trump when they were in power. Hate lasts forever in Washington, D.C.

But good luck with that.

It may just help Biden more than hurt him at the 2024 ballot box.

McCarthy is treading carefully, fully knowing that an impeachment now could end up blowing up on his pale face. There are not enough Republicans to impeach Biden, is what the learned pundits are saying openly and often.

This from The New Republic magazine: [ If you tune in to right-wing media, of course, Biden is the most corrupt person on earth. Millions of people believe this. Salivating Republicans have held hearings. They’ve produced no evidence of anything.

McCarthy knows this. On a Fox News appearance, Sean Hannity pressed him on whether Joe Biden (shown in photo at right) can be charged with bribery, not because he allegedly benefited from anything in Ukraine but because of his son. McCarthy dodged the question. He also said something that could have come out of the mouth of his namesake Joe: "I think there’s enough proof out there that this Biden family needs to come forward and show there wasn’t a pay-to-play." I see. That’s the modern version of prove you’re not a Communist.

Evidence doesn’t matter. They’ve already made up their minds. As the Queen said, “Sentence first, verdict afterwards.” I say let them do it. They will look insane to swing voters. Insane. Go, Kevin, go. Throw that punch. ]

He won't. MAGA types may scream and holler at him to pull the trigger, but McCarthy knows what's at stake. And you don't hear always bellicose Trump prodding him on this, do you?

But, sure, let's see what these do-nothings do.

House Republicans have passed NO signature legislation since taking over after the 2020 election.

 Yeah, go ahead, boys.

We dare you...

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Waiting On The Booking Mug Shot?...You're Not The Only One...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Waiting, still waiting on a police booking mugshot of Donald J. Trump? Hang on, son. You may soon get it. That ranging indictment in Georgia is your great hope. The no-nonsense sheriff of Fulton County, where Trump will present himself, says Trump will not get the favored treatment he's had to date.

This from The New Republic magazine: [. . . Donald Trump has been indicted for a fourth time in Georgia - this time for helping to lead a "criminal racketeering enterprise" in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

This case is the first indictment where we may get a mugshot of the former president. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat promised earlier this month that Trump will be treated like anyone else accused of a crime and have his mugshot taken if indicted.

"Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mugshot ready for you," Labat said.

In earlier indictments, Trump simply had his fingerprints taken.

But in Georgia, things are expected to be different. ]

So, the magazine decided to imagine what Trump’s mugshot could look like.

That's the rendering in the graphic you see above this post.

It is the scene in the movie we've come to expect but have yet to see.

The climax, yeah.

Or one of them in a coming series anyway...

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SUN RECORDS: Newsroom Jukebox - "Trees Lounge"...

SUN STORIES:..."When She Was Good"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Last night, the end of a long, lousy Tuesday, was the first time I thought about my departure. That surprised me. Can it have something to do with Elena, or with Maria Cristina, with Nancy, something to do with all three? Sure.

Without them, I'd likely be down the road on my novel and my free-lance writing. But they are what we know as the flavorings of Life - key, key, key ingredients to reconciling with the best reasons for breathing, for getting up in the morning and for believing time has meaning.

I know the day will come when I leave. I always knew that. No surprise there.

Still, losing Elena may have been part of the eventual end, but to lose her this way simply wasn't in the plot. I suppose I feel sorry for her husband, Johnny. No man deserves what she did, although maybe there's a good reason, one she may throw at me before it's all said and done. There was some upkeep to take care of in my old hotel room before I sat down with my bottle of wine.

Re-arranging my few shirts in the closet took all of maybe 30 seconds, and the clearing of books from the room's only shelf another minute or minute and a half. The bathroom sink needed a bit more elbow grease and I did change the sheets on the bed, really only because the reliable hotel staff had delivered my clean ones.

Windy rain loomed, according to the weather people on TV. That might help. Rain has a way of covering my bad moods. Some say the opposite, but, for me, rain, especially during the hot summer months, cleanses the sort of things that you have no answers for, like romance gone bad.

I shall miss sweet-as-honey Elena. She was too beautiful for me, yet there she was, there she came and there I went. Love tends to make a man do things he wouldn't otherwise do - like think. I think I genuinely loved her. My feelings still say that, still talk to me.

I can say it with complete conviction, me knowing that I was damned lucky to have met her.

Damned lucky...

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Last Taxi To TSC...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Ben Neece, perhaps the city's true Jack-of-all-Trades, wants in on the Texas Southmost College board politics? He's a well-known downtown musician, but that school gig, we say, would be Ben as The Lost Chord - the one musicians spend a lifetime seeking.

This city of way too many badly-placed people has seen him as a steady-hand municipal judge, as a fighting city commissioner, as a travelled coffee trader, as a singing nightclub troubadour, as a...you name it!

According to Jerry McHale, the city's indefatigable "All We Are Saying" blogger, Neece (shown in photo above) is seriously considering a run against incumbent J.J. De Leon, one of the least-known TSC trustees. Why Neece would do such a thing is still unknown, as he himself has not said a word about launching or running a campaign.

As the song says, "...the kids are alright," so we do wonder what exactly Neece would bring to local junior college education. These are the first two, formative years in college. Does Neece know about the best policies required for their success, or will he merely rubber-stamp the words and desires of Old Line Trustees Tony Zavaleta and Adela Garza?

It's not as if TSC is a bastion of major secondary education. It's a small school with a small student enrollment. And it exists in the big, wide shadow of larger, four-year UT-Rio Grande Valley. It does make you wonder. Local residents pay annual property taxes and part of their dues go to TSC.

One would think that students unable to compete at UT-RGV would be a signal to the local school district that their graduates are not cutting it in the real world. Remedial classes, they call it. Get your first two years at cheaper, easier TSC and then transfer those credits to UT-RGV.

Sounds too bureaucratic, the world of higher-ed smoke & mirrors, of departmental mumbo-jumbo.

The 67-year-old Ben Neece in that world?

The guy is a world sightseer with eclectic interests and ideas! He needs TSC like he needs a six-string guitar with a crooked neck (fretboard, frets, headstock). Put that tuneless idea back in the case, Ben. It's a loser.

Times are tough for all colleges. No one person has all the answers. Thankless politics on campus are no different than thankless politics at City Hall. The clock is much slower and the call to action rare. Look at Trustee Alejandra Alderete. What has she done since being initially elected during the last election? Few know even who she is! The TSC Trustee term is for six long, often boring years.

So, they lower tuition, as is the Board's main crowing. It affects such a small group of locals that the rest of the city's population can be excused for yawning in unison.

That's not for Ben Neece...

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Down To The Sunless Sea - Valley Republicans Shrug Off Trump's Indictments...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Not a whimper. Not a defense, either. But not a sound at all. As if it never happened, as if it's not happening. Local Republicans are in a mood for sheltering-in-place. That killer legal tornado grabbing their party's leader by the jowls and ears will only dissipate.

If only!

Going full-turtle is not a good optic for area Republicans. They should say something. They should defend Donald J. Trump or issue some namby-pamby comment about how the justice system will take its course. But they're not doing either of those. They're staying quiet.

Have they now resigned themselves to the idea that the facts have driven every one of these indictments now hanging off Trump's fleshy neck? It would appear so.

Potential candidate Carlos Cascos, shown in photo above, may or may not be staring at a run at the 34th Congressional District seat. He's left Trump to fend for himself, choosing instead to today praise schoolteachers on his active Facebook page.

Lesser candidate Laura E. Cisneros also stayed on the pundit sidelines. She is warbling taxes and specifically property taxes. Nothing on Trump or his legal troubles from her mouth. She's a medical doctor with a credible brain, yet she parks it in her air-conditioned living room. Well, she was a Democrat as recently as the last election. Miss Cisneros (shown in photo below, at left) is a candidate for the 34th Congressional District seat (held currently by Democrat Vicente Gonzalez).

Of course, keeping your mouth shut is every rookie's best move.

Another candidate for that same post is similarly nouveau Republican Mauro Garza, the best-known nobody from Raymondville these days. He has made nary an inroad in the race, his campaign somewhere between sleepy and comatose. Anything on Trump, Mauro?

Nothing.

The noisiest candidate, one Mayra Flores (shown in photo above, at right), also has gone mum, although her crowing against all-things-Democrat is well-known and will soon be the violin, kazoo and washboard musical soundtrack for a minor, black & white motion picture, starring herself as the weather. The protean Miss Flores yesterday and today assailed Democrats for the actions of all of these district attorneys and federal Department of Justice prosecutors. They're to blame for Trump's indictments, not Trump.    

But perhaps we're being a bit harsh here.

Then again, maybe we're not...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Yes, we should acknowledge that it is the MAGA Republicans, like Mayra Flores, who should be defending criminal Trump. Traditional Republicans like Carlos Cascos should get real and say something...]

Weather Service Predicts Aggressive Hurricanes...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Get ready, get smart. Get Cameron County Commissioner Sofia Benavides out there with the sandbags. They're coming. More of them this season, more and more aggressive.

No, not migrants.

Hurricanes!

This from the national weather service: [ Chances of an aggressive Atlantic hurricane landing during the summer and fall season are now about 60%, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Aug. 10 forecast - twice as likely as the agency's May forecast of 30%. NOAA said the increased likelihood of worse-than-average hurricanes is largely due to record hot ocean temperatures and slower than average development of El Niño conditions (which normally help lessen Atlantic hurricane activity). The agency also increased the overall number of Atlantic hurricanes it expects this year.

In a NOAA release last week from its Climate Prediction Center, hurricane forecaster Matthew Rosencrans urged hurricane-vulnerable communities to heed this advanced warning, saying "the updated outlook calls for more activity, so we encourage everyone to prepare now for the continuing season."

NOAA's outlook - which covers the six-month hurricane season ending Nov. 30, but doesn't predict specific landfall areas - is based on the average hurricane season: 14 storms big enough to get named, seven of which usually become hurricanes, with three of those becoming "major hurricanes." ]

In the latest forecast diagrams from the agency, NOAA predicts anywhere from 14 to 21 named storms compared to its May forecast of 12 to 17 storms. It now expects six to 11 hurricanes to develop from those storms, resulting in two to five major hurricanes.

It's been a long spell since the Rio Grande Valley got walloped by a sizable hurricane.

Hurricane Beulah sliced through here and headed up the Valley on Sept. 20, 1967. There have been minor ones nipping the Lower Valley and heading up the Texas Coast. Hurricane Harvey drowned cities and towns from Corpus Christi to Houston on August 25, 2017.

We're way overdue.

Be ready...

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Farmworker Asked About Paycheck...Farmer Slapped Him Across Face...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | They put food on your table. Every day, without fail. For low pay and tough working conditions. Long hours in the hot sun, employers who don't give a damn about the God-awful housing they provide. Employers who are slow to pay.

America's farmworkers.

And often, they get abused.

This about one such incident in Utah that happened last week: [ The president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, Ron B. Gibson, will take a leave of absence after allegedly assaulting an employee at Gibson’s farm in Weber County, Utah, on Aug. 8. Gibson is also under investigation for human trafficking and fraud following the incident, according to the Weber County Sheriff’s Office.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed by the employee, he and other co-workers had not been given their last four paychecks. They confronted Gibson about the matter, which led to a physical altercation.

A video released by KSL News shows Gibson, 50, telling an employee to "shut up" before hitting him in the face with the back of his hand. The injury required further medical attention, according to the police statement.

Gibson’s employees told KSL about unlivable conditions on the farm, where 14 people live in a house with the smell of urine and feces due to an overflowing septic tank. One worker said they work from morning till sundown, "while Ron goes on trips and adventures and [the workers] don’t have money to eat."

Gibson was booked into the Weber County Jail on one count of assault, but has since been released.

This was followed by a statement from the Utah Farm Bureau Federation announcing Gibson’s leave of absence "following an incident involving an employee on his farm."

In that same statement, Gibson apologized, stating, "I’m disappointed in myself. I have deep respect for the men and women willing to work on farms across America, including mine. I simply could not manage the farm without their help, and we wouldn’t have the abundance we do in this country without them."

Teresa Romero, president of United Farm Workers, shared a statement on the incident: ". . . .This situation is disturbing and unfortunately not that uncommon. The courage of these workers is remarkable. They clearly are facing retaliation including physical violence but they’re still working to hold this man accountable. This man is the head of the Utah Farm Bureau. He is supposed to be a leader in his community - but the only ones showing leadership are the workers brave enough to stand up to him. People who abuse the workers who feed this country should face the harshest penalties possible." ]

The name of the abused farmworker was not given.

Not paid in four weeks? That's enough of a reason to go asking why not.

The employer wasn't taking questions. He told him to "shut up" and then hit him across the face.

But there will be fruits and veggies for dinner...

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SUN RECORDS: Newsroom Jukebox - "Tú Ya No Soplas"...