SUN VIDEOS:...Zapateado... Que Chulada De Mujeres...

DEMOCRATS:...Indicted Menendez Plays "Latino" Card... Senator Needs To Resign...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | We looked, but we could not find a single serious reference in U.S. Senator Bob Menendez's days in Congress in which he said anything about being a "Latino," not one. The just-indicted Democrat from New Jersey is doing it now.

Does he actually believe that playing the race card now will help him?

It won't.

He's toast and he likely knows it. The 69-year-old has served three terms, being first elected in 2006 and winning reelection in 2012 and 2028. Not that he counts any sort of signature legislation, although he was chairman of the senate Foreign Relations Committee up until Friday, when he resigned that seat.

No, Menendez is no role model for anyone, and especially not for Latinos.

This excerpt from politico.com: [ Menendez said Friday he won't resign from the Senate despite mounting calls from fellow Democrats for him to do so over an indictment on bribery charges.

"It is not lost on me how quickly some are rushing to judge a Latino and push him out of his seat," Menendez said in a statement. "I am not going anywhere."

The New Jersey senator said he will "continue to fight for the people of New Jersey with the same success I've had for the past five decades."

Menendez and his wife Nadine were charged Friday by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.

Serious stuff.

The indictment further accuses Menendez of accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes" in cash, gold, lavish gifts and other expenses in exchange for using his power to benefit a trio of New Jersey businessmen.

The senator is also accused of using his official role to benefit the government of Egypt, including by providing "sensitive U.S. government information."]

I was laughing at while reading Republican reactions to the bust, with more than one saying they thought this was just the Department of Justice trying to balance the scales alongside the four indictments shifty Donald J. Trump currently is defending.

Well, angles, yes. Politicians are schooled in finding the best way to interpret whatever hits the news cycles. Democrats are imploring Menendez to resign immediately; Republicans want to know why it took so long to get him.

Menendez is not new to any of this sort of slam.

He was indicted once before, in 2015 on charges of doing "favors" for a friend. Prosecutors charged him with using his office to do favors for a Florida eye doctor, Salomon Melgen, who lavished Menendez with luxury items and free travel. Menendez, who claimed he and Melgen were simply friends who exchanged gifts, avoided conviction after a hung jury caused a mistrial in 2017. Melgen was convicted of Medicare fraud in 2017, but President Donald Trump commuted his 17-year prison sentence.

This investigation?

There was this: A search of the couple's home turned up $100,000 in gold bars and $480,000 in hidden cash at their home, said case prosecutors, who added that Menendez also had received a new Mercedes convertible.

And, yes, Democrats are coming out strong in telling Menendez he needs to resign his seat, a point they're making to contrast with what Republicans said about Donald J. Trump's four indictments - Nothing like that...

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SUN SPOTS:...On UFOs...The Truth Is Out There...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Not much new info came out of the much-awaited government report on UFOs released several weeks back. They're still out (up?) there.

Who knows?

Not that our secretive government would ever tell you such things, but it was fitting for the rolling script we live. The literature on this is that, well, if, in fact, Earth was to be visited by beings from far Outer Space, well, that they would not be paying us a friendly call.

Yes, Maria, the common thought on aliens is that they will arrive to conquer and enslave.

It's something to think about on this fine, fine sunny Sunday morning ahead of the new week.

Life goes on, yes...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...For new readers, SUN SPOTS is a blurb feature in which we write about something in the news, although not in any sort of depth. Quick hit, yes...]

SUN SPORTS:...Merciless Clock Strikes Midnight For Cinderella Colorado...Ducks Rout Buffaloes, 42-6...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | I'm not so sure that Prime Time Deion Sanders ever thought he'd get to wear the glass slipper another week. Starting the 2023 college football season at 3-0 must've planted such a dream in the minds of many, including his young Colorado Buffaloes.

Too bad they ran into the high-flying, quacking Oregon Ducks.

The final score (42-6) in Saturday's game was damned emblematic of the whipping the Buffs got on national TV (ABC), as the more-experienced Ducks ran and passed up and down the field at will. Colorado, meanwhile, could generate little, if any, offense.

The eventual result was apparent very early in the Pac-12 Conference contest. Playing at home in Eugene before a packed stadium, Oregon took the ball first and went downfield to score in a rather easy fashion.

Colorado's season record dropped to 3-1. The Buffs host tougher USC next week in Boulder.

The undefeated Trojans, like Oregon, are undefeated and come with Heisman Trophy QB Caleb Williams. That game experience, as Ducks QB Bo Nix showed, is the difference-maker. Colorado's Shedeur Sanders is a legitimate junior. Oregon QB Bo Nix is in his 6th year of eligibility, after red-shirting his freshman year. He previously played for the Auburn Tigers before losing the QB starter job and transferring to Oregon.

You can look at Colorado's loss in several ways. Yes, sure, it had to be tough, but it rids the team of the super-high expectations the fans and media had lapped on them.

They'll do well the rest of the season and likely earn a bowl game...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...To date, we have covered college football more than we'd anticipated. We love the game, but we'll be more selective of the games we cover in the weeks to come. Look for added coverage when the playoffs come around. We're taking the same approach with the National Football League, btw...] 

SUN SPORTS:...Cinderella Colorado On the Road vs. #10 Oregon...Vegas Favors Ducks...

 

STAFF REPORT

EUGENE, Oregon | Is today midnight for the Cinderella Colorado Buffaloes? Vegas bookies say yes, Buffs Coach Deion Sanders says no. The world will know this afternoon.

Colorado, 3-0, faces #10 Oregon, also 3-0, on its home field.

This via espn.com: The Colorado Buffaloes hype train stayed on the tracks in college football Week 3, but just barely. Now, it's on to Eugene for a top-25 showdown with the Oregon Ducks - but so far, bettors aren't backing Deion Sanders' squad.

Upstart Colorado is currently a 21.5-point underdog against the spread (+21.5) vs Oregon in Week 4.

The game is set for 2:30 PM today.

It will be broadcast by ABC...

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SUN SPORTS:...Baylor Hosts Texas In Last Game...Horns Moving To SEC Next Year...

 

STAFF REPORT

WACO, Texas | Even the best books and movies come to an end. So will the rivalry between Texas and Baylor on Saturday. They meet for the last time as Big 12 competitors, as the Longhorns ready entry into the Southeastern Conference (SEC) next year.

The Horns, at 3-0, are ranked #3 in the country.

Baylor is 1-2, having lost a shocker to Texas State and a close one to Utah before whipping a lousy Long Island U. (who?) squad last weekend.

Texas has beaten Rice, Alabama and Wyoming.

Saturday will mark the 113th and final meeting between the two rivals. The Bears have only played against TCU more times in program history.

Texas leads the all-time series 80-28-4, but the Longhorns haven’t won in Waco since 2017.

McLane Stadium (off I-35) is going to be a madhouse. The game is sold out, and Baylor Athletics announced Wednesday that it had distributed more student tickets for the Texas game than any other game in the nine-year life of the venue.

The game is set to begin at 6:30 PM.

You can watch live at the stadium or on ESPN...

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SWITCHEROOS:...Democrats Lose Dallas Mayor To GOP ...He's Now A Republican...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

DALLAS, Texas | Just when you were beginning to think that Dallas was hanging tight to its Democrat politics, along comes Mayor Eric Johnson to say he's going Republican. Yeah.

This from conservative washingtonexaminer.com: [ The Democratic mayor of one of the country's largest cities announced that he is switching political parties on Friday, saying that cities in the United States need more Republicans.

Mayor Johnson said he believes the future of the United States's "great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism" and that he was leaving the Democratic Party because it was not committed to making the country safer.

"Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles (as opposed to the inconsistent, poll-driven commitment of many Democrats) that has long been a defining characteristic of the GOP," Johnson wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. "In other words, American cities need Republicans - and Republicans need American cities."

Johnson noted that he has long been a champion of law enforcement, even fighting back against calls to defund the police after the riots that spurred out of the death of George Floyd. He has also sought to make Dallas the safest city in the country and has succeeded in lowering the city's violent crime rate in every "major category," including murder, for the past two years.

"I have no intention of changing my approach to my job," Johnson wrote. "But today I am changing my party affiliation. Next spring, I will be voting in the Republican primary. When my career in elected office ends in 2027 on the inauguration of my successor as mayor, I will leave office as a Republican."

Johnson said the decision would not change his policy on not endorsing candidates as mayor, claiming his decision to switch parties was based on policies and ideas instead of individual people.

The mayor was just reelected this year, with 98.7% of the vote, and will not be running for a third term due to the city's term limit. Before his success as mayor, Johnson served in the state House of Representatives as a Democrat for eight years. ]

There was no immediate word from the Texas Republican Party or its figurehead leader Gov. Greg Abbott.

But there will be.

Real soon...

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DEMOCRATS:...U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez Indicted...Bribery...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | He's been around seemingly forever and has at times been in legal hot water with his moves as a U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, representing New Jersey, has been in office since 2006.

He's now been indicted.

The 69-year-old Democrat, chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, got hit with the bad news earlier today.

This excerpt from axios.com: [ Menendez has been indicted on bribery charges, according to prosecutors and court records. It's the second time the powerful New Jersey Democrat has faced federal corruption-related charges in the last decade.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, are charged "with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen," the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York wrote on the social media platform X on Friday.

They are charged with three counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. A spokesperson for Menendez's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted "hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using" the senator's "power and influence to ... seek to protect and enrich" the businessmen."

"Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value," the indictment said.

Prosecutors allege that Menendez "promised to and did use his influence and power and breach his official duty in ways that benefited the Government of Egypt," as well as Egyptian-American businessman Wael Hanna. ]

This comes at a bad time for Democrats. Lately, they have made hay of Republicans flaunting the law, especially one Donald J. Trump and a slew of his fiercest backers, most now facing charges in Georgia for attempting to overturn the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Menendez, himself, has said nothing about these charges.

He should...

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MEXICO:...How Many People Actually Work For The Drug Cartels?...175,000...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

MEXICO CITY, Mexico | Ask pretty much anyone in the U.S. about Mexico's drug cartels and chances are you'll get exaggerated impressions and numbers. The cartels, they will tell you in overly-serious words, are the world's most ruthless and dangerous people, and their numbers are enormous.

Like daily murders and millions of Mexicans involved.

Well, no.

 Of course, organized crime continues to wreak havoc.

But how many people are on the payrolls of the Mexican cartels?

Now researchers have come up with an estimate: 175,000. That figure, which would make the cartels the country’s fifth-largest employer, has steadily risen during the last decade, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science (science.org) and relied on a variety of data to build a mathematical model of the workforce.

"It’s very important to understand the size of the problem," said lead author Rafael Prieto-Curiel, a researcher at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna. "It helps put the issue into perspective."

And although cartels have been chronicled in television series, books and high-profile criminal cases, much about them remains unknown. Estimates of annual profits start at $6 billion and spiral upward.

Mexico's cartels long ago branched beyond drug trafficking into other lucrative rackets, including extortion, kidnapping, fuel theft and migrant smuggling. That implies a vast economy - and a huge labor force.

According to a report in the magazine, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Anne Milgram, told Congress in July that Mexico’s two most powerful criminal organizations - the Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation cartel - had almost 45,000 members, associates, facilitators and brokers in more than 100 countries. As is his practice, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a frequent skeptic of Washington’s drug policies, scoffed at the numbers.

Researchers crunched statistics on incarceration and casualties during the last decade to arrive at their estimate. According to their findings, the Mexican cartels must recruit 350 to 370 people each week to replenish the ranks diminished by losses from arrests and murder.

Being a cartel worker is "like playing Russian roulette," Prieto-Curiel said.

The comprehensive study cites a greatly fragmented panorama of 150 cartels. Many are small regional bands that are not necessarily affiliated with sophisticated, transnational syndicates.

The estimate of 175,000 "active cartel members" in Mexico at the end of 2022 includes both full-time and occasional employees, Prieto-Curiel said. Their ranks include peasants cultivating opium poppies, pistoleros guarding methamphetamine and fentanyl labs, and capos running global contraband networks.

At first glance, we thought the 175,000 was too-low. The authors acknowledged that their findings are "imperfect." Researchers made an "educated guess" as to what share of murder victims and inmates were cartel members, Prieto-Curiel said.

Smith, author of the 2021 book "The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade," pointed out that the model fails to capture the number of police officers, military personnel, politicians and other officials on cartel payrolls.

He also questioned the value of using incarceration and homicide numbers in a country where relatively few murderers are ever jailed. And, he said, identifying cartel members among the more than 100,000 people listed as "disappeared: in Mexico seems questionable.

But even with that, he called the study a "useful exercise," as it provides "an indication of the depth and extent of organized crime in Mexico."

Using their mathematical model, the authors of the study concluded that increasing education and job opportunities for young men - who make up the majority of recruits - is the only means to thwart the cartels and reduce violence.

"We have made cartels desirable," Prieto-Curiel said, noting the financial allure and the romanticizing of drug trafficking in popular culture.

The article does not address the ever-present U.S. demand for narcotics, the engine driving drug trafficking. How to diminish that is something no one has figured out.

". . . .Cartel members are not billiard balls or atoms locked into mechanistic reactions to external shocks," said one of the authors. "Cartels are adaptive organizations often run by intelligent people who can alter behavior in response to changing conditions."

Much has been written about Mexico's drug cartels, about their growth and about how Mexico does not seem all that interested in fighting their presence and influence.

One of these days, it will have to...

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STREETS OF THE VALLEY: City of Harlingen Shows-Off...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

HARLINGEN, Texas | It's all about the look, isn't it? That's how you can tell a city or town is either moving forward or just dying. New buildings, new commerce, new parks, new golf courses, new streets. You're either getting it done or you are just letting it go.

Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda may be new to the job, but she's a year into bringing a can-do attitude to city government.

Streets in Harlingen have never been all that bad (see Brownsville for the Worst in The Valley). This is what she posted on her active Facebook page about the latest roadwork: [ The City of Harlingen recently repaved Clifford Street from Haine Dr. to Daniel Cir. We also repaved Tucker Road from Lincoln Ave. to Dixieland Rd. 🚗💨 ]

McAllen also does a good job of maintaining its streets, as does the City of Edinburg.

What a difference these improvements make. You can drive around town and see the work being done, and then being completed. Infrastructure, they call it in cityspeak. That's taxpayer money at work.

You roll into a pothole and, well, there you and your vehicle are - angered and out-of-alignment.

This is not El Salvador (We used to say Mexico, but have you seen Mexico lately?).

This is the Rio Grande Valley of Texas - as proud a region as you'll find anywhere in the Lone Star State.

Pave the streets in town and get the state to pave the roads leading into and out of town. That's public service at its best. Your mayor knows.

He or she just needs to get out of that air-conditioned office at City Hall and see what the rest of the city's residents see.

It's not hard at all, as Harlingen keeps proving...

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BLOGOSPHERE:...Untrained News Bloggers Upbraided... They Blew The TSC Story...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Whoa, Nelly! That minor league, self-ballyhooed Brownsville Blogosphere is in disarray this morning. Overnight news came hard and fast for amateur blogger Jimmy Barton, shown in photo above, and his close blogpal Jerry McHale.

Their old friend in local news, Blogger Juan Montoya, tore into the inexperienced pair with a biting offering on his blog after both 75-year-old Barton and 73-year-old McHale threw fake news on their free blogs about doings at Texas Southmost College.

You'd think this freewheeling duo would know that Montoya is a die-hard defender of the junior college he once attended.

The rub came in several postings posted by Barton (who blogs from Iowa, where his wife is employed) and McHale criticizing TSC's welding program. The angered Montoya threw so many facts at them that the pair likely are still up against the wall.

TSC, wrote the pair of errant, misinformed bloggers, was offering a student welding program not certified by the preeminent American Welding Society, costing, according to the bloggers, a shot at real jobs in the industry for the students who'd completed TSC class requirements.

Montoya, shown in photo at left, spelled it all out for them, metaphorically dragging both of his fellow local bloggers to the woodshed for a drop-your-slacks spanking.

Of the two, only McHale has the only however-thin taste of actual daily newsroom journalism, having worked for The Brownsville Herald's Sports Dept. way, way, way back in the late 1970s. He later went on to a long, long, long 30-plus-year career as a teacher with the Brownsville Independent School District.

It was in one of McHale's postings that he wrote some critic of the TSC program was calling TSC President Dr. Jesus Rodriguez "crooked". That came in the second offering by the blogger known more for fiction than non-fiction.

Barton has zero actual news journalism experience, He has written about working for a defunct grocery store on Boca Chica Boulevard, for an area motel and for shrimpers hiring muscle to unload their catch. Blogging seems to be wordy Barton's initial entry into writing news, although he will tell you that he's not into news, per se, but into the "human nature behind the news."

Often, both bloggers ignore basic tenets of news reporting and do it cavalierly, without regard for the craft. McHale has never had an editor to check his writing, having passed on seeking a better position with better newspapers after his short stint at The Herald, a once-daily newspaper many in the business would say is an okay "starter" job after college.

Barton is simply lost in his typing. As an activity crutch for an old man, blogging works for him. He does not have a college degree and, well, a trip to The Herald for a reporter's job would have been futile for him. But he has been seen about town wearing a homemade Press Pass when attending no-admission political functions such as "Meet & Greet" gatherings. He tries, but Barton simply does not have the knowledge or professional background to write any kind of serious news.

We often tell friends, including recently to McHale, that Barton's blog is really a "Laundromat Bulletin Board" and not much else. Today, he posted an opinion post about God, or really, why God does not exist. A good two local readers found it semi-interesting.

Barton often asks about my employment, finding trailer park humor in not knowing where I worked in the last few decades. I last wrote for D Magazine in Dallas on a free-lance basis in the year 2012. before that, I spent almost 30 years writing for major newspapers and magazines. He knows that, but he chooses to denigrate it, perhaps out of envy and jealousy. Since then, I have been nicely retired, although I do blog from time to time, but never for long stretches of time. McHale has been blogging, we would say, for at least 20 years and Barton for a dozen or so.

We never ask Barton about his recent employment, mainly because we know there isn't any there. He has said he and his wife Nenny lived for many years in Arkansas, but he never says what work he did, if any. Nenny was the military veteran in the household. When she died like five years ago, Barton donated her body to science, writing that it had been her choice. He never produced either a Will requesting such an ending or even some home-written note saying as much.

We are not big fans of Texas Southmost College, but when we have written about it, we have not gotten the sort of blowback McHale, shown in photo at right, and Barton are getting from much more experienced blogger Montoya.

This dust-up is a rare one for the Brownsville Blogosphere. Most of the time, these guys rally around each other like junior high schoolboys, praise of each other's posts flying as if meaningful.

When we began this blog back in April, we allowed McHale to use our stories. His style, however, clashed with my idea of "presentation," so I asked him to stop. He did.

Non-newsman Barton likely has nothing else to do, so he'll keep with his low-altitude blogging.

They may not be happy blogging campers today, but what blogger Juan Montoya did in calling them on the carpet is a good thing for local news and information.

Cross-checking each other's work would do wonders for their reporting on politicians and public servants. As it is, all three have their friends in high positions and, as such, the local citizenry never really gets serious, objective reporting of their doings.

We say McHale is too old to care about any of this.

Barton should, however, use it as a teaching moment courtesy of a blogger he really admires...

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THE PAXTON FILES:...Fresh Off His Trial Victory, The A.G. Now Wants Cornyn's Job...

 

By EDUARTDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

AUSTIN, Texas | Well, he won the last big one. Why shouldn't Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton go for the gold? I mean, coming off a dramatic impeachment trial orchestrated by some of his own political party brethren! Who can blame the cocky A.G. for dreaming of higher ground?

The 60-year-old Paxton, a Republican man about town here, what with that salacious sexual affair with a younger Babe that sort of also hit the trial dial, wants John Cornyn's job - U.S. Senator from the lately oft-besmirched Lone Star State.

Cornyn is Big Time, having first been elected in 2002 and is currently serving his fourth six-year term. That gray-haired cat is no slouch. Not even all-this-and-that Beto O'Rourke has dared to challenge Cornyn.

But as we wrote a few days ago, after the trial that saw cocky Paxton acquitted, to the victors go the spoils. With that in mind, Paxton likely feels quite invincible now. We do wonder what Republican Gov. Greg Abbott would say about that. He and Cornyn (shown in photo below) are said to be great pals.

In any case, this excerpt from politico.com: [ Paxton on Wednesday alleged without evidence that the Biden administration, working in cahoots with certain Texas Republicans, was behind the failed attempt to impeach him on charges of bribery and corruption.

In his first remarks since being acquitted by the Texas Senate on Saturday on 16 articles of impeachment, Paxton blasted fellow conservatives who he believes betrayed him and the party, including House Speaker Dade Phelan, former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and the all-Republican Court of Criminal Appeals.

Paxton excoriated Cornyn as a poor representative for Texans and said a strong candidate needs to challenge him in 2026 - adding that he may be the man to do so. "Everything’s on the table for me," he said when the Fox News host suggested he should run. Paxton was particularly critical of what he said was Cornyn’s failure to protect Texas from undocumented immigrants. ]

It's easy to speak out against a political opponent at the outset of any would-be campaign. But Paxton isn't used to losing. He's been Attorney General since 2015, plus he likes to say he counts on the only Republican that matters - Donald J. Trump.

We like the idea of Paxton challenging the staid Cornyn. A little wild drama in such a sparked race would do wonders for today's itchy voters, especially in a party primary, which is where these two would settle things.

John Cornyn, a 71-year-old man of few words, has said nothing about reelection in 2026, or about the forward-looking, trash-talking Paxton.

It would be a nice intra-family knockdown/drag-out, yes...

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SUN ISSUES:...Aging Reagan In Mic Drop Debate...1984...

BORDER:...City of Palms Mayor In Mexico For "El Grito"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | This city's take-charge mayor has a certain fondness for neighboring Mexico. He's been courting international business since he was elected earlier this year. Busy Mayor Javier Villalobos, shown at right in photo above, was in the Monterrey suburb of Ciudad Apodaca for that city's Mexican Independence Day celebration.

It is only his latest trip south of the border, this one coming after ventures over to coastal Tampico, Monterrey and closer Reynosa. Business is business, he seems to be saying.

Anyway, this is what he said about his visit to quaint Apodaca on his Facebook page: [ Celebrated "El Grito" with our good friend Mayor of Apodaca, Cesar Garza Villarreal. On the 15th of September of every year, politics and division are set aside, and Mexico celebrates as one.

I yearn for the days when our country was not so polarized and the interest of our country and our people came before the interest of a political party. We must unite! ]

Villalobos is a Republican, although not a ridiculous MAGA Republican. He's okay with Mexico being there, unlike some over in the crazed far right-wing sector of his party who these days talk of invading Mexico or targeting the Mexican drug cartels with drone bombings.

But, as I always say, Americans who live anywhere near the southern border know a different relationship with Mexico. Politicians from elsewhere tend to demonize it without a second thought.

Perhaps Mayor Villalobos should speak to a few of them.

There are problems, yes. But, well, what region of our troubled country does not have problems?

Even Disneyworld is at the center of a political mess...

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MEXICO:...Russian Soldiers Join in "El Grito"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

MEXICO CITY, Mexico | One of those uniquely-Mexican despapayes, all bark and no bite, is still brewing days after Mexico hosted a few Russian soldiers at its annual Independence Day celebration.

Russians marching in the hallowed parade?

Well, yes.

But it did draw some protests and more than a few thousand raised eyebrows.

This from mexiconewsdaily.com: [ President Andres Manuel López Obrador on Monday defended the participation of Russian soldiers in Saturday’s Independence Day military parade after Ukraine’s ambassador to Mexico and others criticized their involvement in the annual event.

"We have relations with all the countries of the world, and everyone is invited," he told reporters at his regular news conference. The president said Russia was welcome to take part in the parade.

The practice of inviting all the world’s nations to participate in the Independence Day parade "has always been done," López Obrador added. A small contingent of Russian soldiers marched through the streets of the capital as their colleagues continued to wage war against Ukraine. Military units from a number of other countries, including China, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Sri Lanka also participated in the parade.

Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Dramaretska said on the X social media site that the parade was "sullied by the participation of a Russian regiment."

The boots and hands of Russian soldiers are "stained with blood," she said.

Dramaretska questioned López Obrador over how the Russian army’s participation in the parade was "coherent" with his "policy of neutrality" and "condemnation of Russian aggression against my country."

For its part, the Russian Embassy in Mexico said on X that soldiers from the Russian army’s 154th Preobrazhensky regiment took part and that it was an "honor to participate in such an important event for the Mexican people."

"Long live the friendship between Mexico and Russia," the embassy added.

López Obrador, whose government chose not to place sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, said Monday that an unwarranted, media-driven "scandal" had been made out of Russia’s participation in the parade, which he and other officials attended. ]

A political prankster known to say stupidities and couch Mexico's news events in his self-serving terms, Lopez Obrador may see it that way, but few others do.

Russian soldiers had no business in that parade, not as they continue to kill and bomb innocent civilians in Ukraine.

AMLO, as Lopez Obrador is best known in Aztec Nation, gets our "Que Diablos?" award...

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SUN RECORDS: Newsroom Jukebox - "Badlands"...

TACO TUESDAY:...Cumbia Inferno...On The Border, By The Sí...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Every big city and every little town has a guy like Erasmo Castro, that annoying-yet-on-it local critic quick to bless and quicker to blame. He's here, he's there, he's everywhere. Last week, the podcaster extraordinaire with the tripa taco-eating grin was in Mexico City and in Cabo San Lucas, jewel of the Baja.

What exactly he was doing there we do not know, although we did catch portions of his dizzying, down-to-the-colon podcasts from both lovely locations. Invariably, Rassmo tells you where he is but quickly segues into whatever local action/inaction he wishes to spotlight. He's host and second banana most of the time, but every now and then he has an actual guest, the last one we saw was proverbial boring gadfly Roman "Who?" Perez.

Castro's podcast often duels with the city's other one, the soon-to-be-a-minor-motion-picture offering by one Capt. Bob Sanchez, the set usually his popular restaurant on the city's fish-smelling side. Where Castro emotes somewhat intelligently about crazy political doings in town, El Capitan will merely smile into his camera and poke at his show's guest for something interesting. I've yet to catch a CBS podcast and come away believing I learned something. It's very much like watching fog roll in.

Usually I end up sending Sanchez messages such as that he has now perfected the Mexican accent and that, no lie, he would look a lot like rocker Ozzie Osbourne if only he wore a Beatle wig. The Captain merely smiles that smile we last saw on Captain Kangaroo and the wrestler Haystack Calhoun.

We say Erasmo Castro should go all out and blow El Capitan out of the stinking resaca water. With heady topics and important people as guests, we mean. Or with a pretty dame as co-host...

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The lad is young and maybe that's what it's all about for him. But new Brownsville City Commissioner Bryan Martinez is an elected official now. Dressing like a slob at a public function may be a Border Vato thing, but he does his district, poor La Southmost, no favors with that cheap-ass, high school shorts & polo look.

Buck up, son. Be the man!

They're saying he takes after his mentor and former boss, City Commissioner Roy De Los Santos, a chubby cat who favors flip flops and loose-fitting, wrinkled, just-out-of-the-dryer slacks. Sadly, it is the look of the moment for these two.

True that neither of these amateurs would look all that great in a suit & tie, but fashion give-ups is the last thing locals need at City Hall. You want to tackle the shitty conditions of city parks, well, shorts and flip-flops would be okay.

But if you're working on resolving once & for all that humiliating Tenaska deal, well, who'll take you seriously?

Young Bryan Martinez still has time to grow into the job, yes.

And maybe even slide into a nice pair of new dress slacks and a button-down shirt. No tie needed; he's a Mexican and Mexicans were not born for suits & ties. Fact.

Yeah, sure, a sit-down chat with fashionista Juan "Trey" Mendez is in order for this lad...

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Where did she go? Is she still in town? Boy, it wasn't all that long ago that honeyed City Commissioner Jessica Tetreau was all over Brownsville. So, she lost the race for mayor. So what? Stick around. You've been part of the pictorial landscape for - how long? - years.

Leggy Tetreau may be plotting a return (we've heard nothing) to local politics. Who knows? Do you?

The dude forever on her tail - Pro-Mexicans Blogger Juan Montoya - has written nothing about her since the election. He's hung up on posting cartoons, so maybe her defeat hit him hard, as well. Who knows? Do you?

Anyway, we do hope she makes a Hollywood-like re-entry into the local political scene.

That gal. She was always all-dolled-up with everywhere to go.

Go for it, we'd say to her. Brownsville women need to see that they can dress-up if they want to, do it on maxed-out credit cards. We know, we know. That we spotlight the very-married Mrs. Tetreau as a role model for drab, Walmart-attired local women is yet another of our cheap indictments lobbed at the City On The Border, By The Gulf.

Hey, the attractive are very different...

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Another blast-from-the-past. This would be one Nurith Picasso Galonsky. Okay, not Picasso but Pizana. Lighten-up! I get tired of all the Mexican names around here. Boston and New York were never like this. An occasional Italian or Polish name would help, but what are the chances?

Miss Galonsky lost her city commission seat to shorts-and-ha-ha-teenager Bryan Martinez in the last election and seemed to fade into one of those uncollected Southmost garbage heaps. Well, no, she just went home, is what one of our local friends told us the other day.

Would Nurith make her own comeback?

We always believed she was wasting her time and talent serving the poverty-stricken residents of that particular district. Mayor would be her station, we recall writing a few beers ago. But she has her own brain, so she will run for whatever post grabs her, maybe even on the beer-fueled advice of some local feller.

Not that we have any inside info that she's contemplating a return.

No, Nurith is gone. Out of sight and perhaps even out of mind for many of this under-achieving town quick to turn out 500 voters and put some uncharismatic dude in as mayor. The day will come when a smart and articulate woman will bowl over this town of some 200,000 do-nothing-always-bitching residents and then - and only then - will the circle of fatalistic defeat be broken.

Gee, ese. I thought Nurith might have been it back when she first won her city commission seat a bit over four years ago.

How wrong I was...

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So, what's shakin' at the little college atop that two-foot hill on the southside of town? Anything interesting happenin' at Texas Southmost College? What's that you say - a controversy involving its much-ballyhooed welding program?

Ho hum.

Boring. Mini, teenie-weenie Junior College scandal! Ha ha ha

But it's keeping some people up all night, writing about it as if some Hunter Biden scandal of astral proportions. That's the school's president and the unofficial face of the TSC Board of Trustees in the photo above. The gent is Dr. Jesus Rodriguez and the woman in the leopard (not Scorpion) dress is the lovely Adela Garza.

They are being spit-roasted daily after someone complained that the welding program certificates the college was doling out did not quite satisfy the requirements of something called the American Welding Society, not to be confused with American Cancer Society, an actual helpful outfit.

We've sort of stayed up with the controversy from afar and have yet to see any of the social media wonders chasing the story contact either TSC Pres Rodriguez or Miss Garza for comment. Yeah, I know. Maybe today, or tomorrow.

It used to be easier to pick up the phone in the era of landlines...

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One of the city's ever-inquisitive-never-correct bloggers this past weekend wondered if perhaps Port of Brownsville Commissioner Ralph Cowen might be too old to serve at age 81. Who knows? It's not like we as yet have an Age Police cruising the city, so Cowen is not going anywhere unless he wants to. Well, him or his God, yes.

I recall an afternoon like 10 years ago, when I visited Brownsville and hung around with Ralph and my then-darling Melissa Zamora and Rey Guevara-Vasquez and Blogger Juan Montoya at the 1-2-3 Lounge on 14th Street.

Ralph was a hoot on that day. His jokes bounced off the cheap bar's cheaper walls as if cannonballs last heard on Mexico's Independence Day. He was, as they say these days, en fuego. I recall we all chipped in for a fajitas botana and Montoya went out to go get it.

What a time it was.

And, yes, it's sad to hear some people laying the age thing on ever-genial Ralph...

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The city is dropping an intial $20 million to restore the old El Jardin Hotel. Some say the name comes from a Spanish variation of the Biblical Garden of Eden. Quien sobby? It's true that downtown needs something new - anything! - to again feel as if it has plunged into the 1990s. Lord knows it looks down and out, more like East L.A. than McAllen.

It's a grand plan.

Affordable housing is the motivation, and what Las Prietas fool will argue against that? The city has a large population in need of cheap rentals. And downtown is full of vacant, abandoned buildings, so the idea is a winner. For sure. We read where the city's Housing Authority has a waiting list of some 10,000 families waiting for the telephone call.

That's wild! Like a packed house over at Sams stadium on a night the Seguin Matadors come to town to chase Brownsville High's QB Desi Najera into the turf?

Where are these 10,000 families living now? In Brownsville, or in neighboring Matamoros?

There has been little - if any - info on how many units will be carved into the new & re-painted El Jardin, and just what the price range in rentals will be. Something about businesses on the ground floor, but no restaurant on the top floor.

We're in complete favor of this project, as we believe it will show Brownsville that progress can actually be accomplished...

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Yeah, eat it. It's Taco Tuesday and tacos it is for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It don't get no better'n this. Mess with your three on your plate. Drop some salt & pepper on each one, some salsa. Reach for it with your hand and clamp those itchy fingers over the first one.

Lift it slowly to your mouth and initiate a nice, tasty chomp.

Hey, maybe rough-around-the-edges TSC will offer a two-tortilla taco eating class. You know, get the American Taco Society to accredit the program? Yeah. Have Miss Adela Garza, a good Republican, become the face of that wildly-successful, todas-las-thin-and-gordas student initiative. Oh, Hell yeah!

By the way, do send us a note via our comments feature if you would like to be, well, featured in our Taco Tuesday weekly offering.

There is no charge, no...

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DEPARTMENT OF CASH DONATIONS:... Co. Judge Trevino Says, "Hold On."...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | There was one of those always intriguing continuations of the slam jobs on Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino the other day on former County Judge Carlos Cascos's Facebook page. The comments some of his followers submitted to a post about Trevino were not new, or novel, or even interesting.

It was the usual all-alarm attack on Trevino, and not the first in Brownsville's social media.

Criticism aimed at a politician belongs in our discourse these days. Drop some anger on that public servant just because, goes the line. We have no problem with that, only we do when the attack seems wrong on most counts and unnecessary.

At issue was a $15,000 contribution offered to Precinct 1 Constable Norman Esquivel. No, it didn't come from the Girl Scouts Cookies organization; it was from a Republican political action group led by someone named John Rourke.

It seems Rourke, shown in photo below, approached the Cameron County Commissioner's Court recently to ask that it okay the contribution, and to do it publicly and posthaste.

County Judge Eddie Trevino, a Democrat, said in so many words, "Uh, no."

Rourke then went public with his anger and disappointment, taking Trevino to task for some sort of disrespect he felt he got from the county judge. Soon, Rourke was on the far-right cable talk shows blasting Trevino. Trevino said no more, other than the contribution would be approved or disapproved after further review.

On the Facebook discussion entertained by Carlos Cascos, the verbiage went to how Trevino could deny such a generous offer.

We chimed in with a few questions about the contribution and the group behind, asking also why only Constable Esquivel was being singled out as the lone recipient. Initially, we noted that Esquivel is a Republican, only that is somewhat up in the air.

We further said it was a good decision by Trevino to not approve the donation immediately. We noted the fact that Rourke is aligned with Donald J. Trump, so that, for Democrat Trevino, was something to throw into the equation and think about.

"I don't think the issue was so much the $$, but more the treatment, disrespect of the constable & the politicizing of the event," Cascos, the former county judge, threw in. "Stating the flyer mentioned Bidens name when in fact it did not, he made it political. That's the way I saw it."

Disrespect, I did not see.

Yes, Trevino was likely not happy at seeing Rourke show up. And, as is his wont, he reacted pretty much as he always does at anything he does not like. That's all politicians, however. Cascos did note that he faced criticism while serving as Texas Secretary of State and always dealt with it civilly and with respect.

That's Cascos.

That's not Eddie Trevino.

As for the out-of-the-blue donation, we wonder what Rourke and his Republican pals would do if a Brownsville Mexican showed-up at a county government meeting in Florida and ask that a bag of cash be okayed for one of their own deputies.

The response would likely be: Cat-quick, wild-eyed insinuation that the benevolent Mexican was a member of the Drug Cartels out to buy local influence.

You know it. And I know it...

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CANDIDATES:...Cowboy Hats In The Horseless Valley...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Word comes that hats are being readied for any would-be candidate for county sheriff. Cowboying is in, say the proponents of the western wear. Want instant endorsement? Buy a hat, take a photo wearing it and hand it out at will.

You will immediately gain some sort of border credibility. Or, as cops and deputies know that word, "da cred."

Cameron County Sheriff Eric Garza got one after winning election four years ago, this after serving as district clerk, where he didn't need a cowboy hat. Since then, Garza has been a literal cowpuncher any West Texas ranch would like to have, if only for photos showing a Mexican at work.

Into the pig-smelling corral that is the candidate's circle has come Jesus Rosas, Jr.

He, too, wears a cowboy hat. And he, too, looks quite dumb in it, like some downtown vato who saw his first episode of Gunsmoke and said, "Hey, ese, why not me?"

Rosas wants to be sheriff just to wear the hat, is what his brother told us. Well, no, that's not true, although wouldn't it be nice for us if the brother had come forward. Does fullback-model Rosas even have a brother? He has cowboy hats. We're sure of that.

He's not in the race for sheriff yet, but we expect one John Chambers, the guy Eric Garza beat in the last election, to jump in any day now. Chambers wears - you guessed it - cowboy hats. His is the look not of Matt Dillon or Wyatt Earp but of some chubby white guy who wants to look a little taller in his boots and Stetson.

Voters know about this, dudes.

Geez, Louise. Someone get a freakin' Charro hat, okay?

The other Mexican in the sheriff's race is someone named Ronnie Saenz. There was a time when Ronnie was short for Veronica, but perhaps no more. As my galpal Melissa Zamora might say about here, "Quien sobby?"

We're hip to wanting to belong to something or another as a politician.

But, boys, the cowboy hat is not in vogue. Maybe in Austin, where everybody is after a woman like Laura Olson, the attorney general's sweetheart. But in Cameron County, well, who are these dudes trying to impress - each other?

If this crazy-dumb trend moves across the local political landscape, should we expect to see Mayor John Cowen in a cowboy hat? He'd have a few good reasons to do it, as, for one, he is very bald.

No, we say everybody take their cowboy hats off and toss them to the kids in the neighborhoods.

Walking around looking like a nameless background extra for some high-powered TV western only devalues your candidacy. Endorse one of these drugstore cowboys? Not happening.

The cowboy hat, we have learned, is a symbol of courage, strength, and self-reliance.

We don't see that in any of these fake cowboy candidates...

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SUN SPORTS:...Boys Kick Hell Outta NY Jets...And The Ball...

 

STAFF REPORT

ARLINGTON, Texas | You watch the Dallas Cowboys play on TV and you always expect offensive fireworks. Bullet Bob Hayes streaking down the sidelines after a pass from Dandy Don Meredith. Receivers Lance Rentzel and Lance Alworth doing the same. Troy Aikman hitting Michael Irvin, The Playmaker for the win.

Sunday's game was supposed to see the dog-ass Cowboys open up the offense. Or, uh, that's what Head Coach Mike McCarthy told reporters ahead of the team's game at home against the New York Jets.

The offense in the 30-10 victory?

Five field goals.

Yeah, two passing TDs by QB Dak Prescott, but five field goals was all the fans got.

Still, it was a win and Da Boys are now 2-0 for the season.

For a play-by-play wrap-up, go to some other website. We are covering the game results primarily, mainly because it's a damned long 17-game season and the adjectives get old. But there is one stat that grabs at us and likely will grab at you, you die-hard Cowboys groupie.

Da Boys have beaten both New York teams (NY Giants last weekend) by a combined score of 70-10. That's a load of offense.

But Sunday, it was five boring field goals that padded the final score...

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THE PAXTON FILES:...Texas AG Gets His Job And Mistress Back...Is That It?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | We're not going to re-hash the trial's particulars. History will do that enough. Our take on the "Acquitted" verdicts that came after Texas Attorney General Kan Paxton's trial is an expected one - he is soiled and should take no damned pleasure from not being expelled.

The 60-year-old Paxton came out with his usual strong, "fuck you all" statement about his acquittal, which was to be expected. He's led a charmed political life, as we often write here. Let that self-serving statement he handed to the press stay in its overnight grave; we're not publishing it here.

What must be said, Dear Texans, is that this hangnail trial was all a Republican move, play and result.

Democrats were the so-called curious onlookers, the guys on the sidewalk as the circus rolled into town. We had wondered about why Republicans would bring a case against one of their own. Entitled Paxton has been MAGA Republican since the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016! To expect a well-settled domestic and public life from this guy was to expect Leave It To Beaver come to life.

He's back on the job as Texas Attorney General after a three-month suspension.

And we also know that he has a sort of vengeful personality, so we should pity his office's entire staff. Many of them turned on him when he started doing it all for his benevolent backer, the shady real estate mogul Nate Paul, a dude so present under the FBI's microscope that any super tiny-ass germ would be as visible as Mt. Fuji.

No, we don't expect anything to change. Even Republican Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed him back. So much for accountability and great expectations. Ken Paxton won and to the winners go the spoils. That may include a continuation of his sexual acrobatics with the mistress in the story who never got to testify - one 50-year-old Laura Olson (shown in photos at above and below).

Has there been even a remote apology from Paxton? Anything resembling one?

Is Mrs. Paxton, Angela, a state senator, going to say a word or two about his wanton, very public infidelity? He threw it in her face! Everybody knows the salacious story. We don't expect her to, because he, too, is a Republican and they don't always play the societal game we all have to. If she suffered her fool in midnight weepings, well, she'll likely keep doing it. At 60 years old, Angela Paxton's too old to think divorce and the singles scene one more time.

Laura Olson, married and divorced four times, no doubt knows her role in Texas politics. We'll leave it at that.

It's a sad day for Texas, actually.

Its attorney general, the top lawman in the state, is a rotten dude whose record does not lie. He helps his friends in fights against his very own federal government. Paxton uses the color of the office for self-gain and personal fights. For being good at this, we pay him.

Tomorrow begins another day.

Playboy A.G. Ken Paxton will rise with the sun and thank his lucky stars.

He'll perhaps round it out by giving Laura Olson a call...after kissing his wife and wishing her a nice day.

Some attorney general...

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