WAR:...Day 5...No Let-Up ...1,200 Jews Killed...900 Palestinians...U.S. In It...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Day 5. Mission underway. Angered Israel out to obliterate Palestine. That's the headline racing across the world this morning. The news is bad for Palestinians, today's political punching bag. But is also women and children being murdered.

Murder, cause that's what war is.

There are no winners, as always. We feel for the Jewish people. They were attacked. Now they are attacking. There are no immediate answers.

This from axios.com: [ More than 1,200 Israelis and 900 Palestinians have been killed, thousands have been injured, and thousands of others have been displaced in fighting that comes after a year of escalating violence in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

At least 14 Americans were killed in the Hamas attack, President Biden said on Tuesday. U.S. citizens are also among the hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza.

At least 20 Americans were still missing, the White House said earlier.

The World Health Organization is calling for a humanitarian corridor to allow supplies and aid to get into Gaza as Israel continues its heavy bombardment on the enclave in response to the Hamas attack.

Israel cut electricity and blocked food, fuel and other supplies from getting into Gaza after declaring a "complete siege" of the enclave, which had already been under a strict Israeli blockade, supported by Egypt, for 16 years. The Rafah crossing into Egypt closed on Tuesday due to the Israeli raids on Gaza.

Human Rights Watch slammed Israel's "complete siege" as a "call to commit a war crime." HRW has also said the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages constitute a violation of international law and war crimes.

More than 263,900 people have been displaced in Gaza since the war began, the UN humanitarian office said late Tuesday. Many are sheltering in UN-run schools. Several schools have sustained damage from air strikes. ]

There is no let-up. Israel may have been hit first, but it is making the most out of this opportunity to once and for all rid itself of all things Palestinian. With the full help of the U.S. 

It goes on...

-30- 

TACO TUESDAY:...73-Year-Old Blogger El Jerry Says, "Oops, Tony!"...75-Year-Old Jim Barton Still The Laggard Blogger...Master Baiters...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Two weeks after folding in that Bizarro slam job on Texas Southmost College and its welding program, Blogger El Jerry McHale, shown above, is fast working a daily self-rehabilitation effort to get back in good graces with the college administrators he dragged through what can honestly be characterized as outhouse spillage.

El Jerry is praising the Holy Hell of all to do with little TSC, the local junior college he never attended, but quickly grew to loathe.

What was it again, days and days of a mauling TSC's administration following a bit of grumbling by welding students who crowed long & hard that their certificates were worthless and not recognized by the, ahem, prestigious American Welding Society? Oh, and Mac, The Knife also went after the camouflage-attired welding program's director, noting breathlessly that the dude - egads!!! - carried a gun on campus.

Geez, Louise. What became of all of that? We've waited for either the college to respond or the sky to fall. Neither has - or will - happen.

But 73-year-old El Jerry has come around to praising TSC Chair Adela Garza and TSC Trustee Tony Zavaleta - two faces of the college known pretty much to everyone in town and two people who are not about to forgive careless/sloppy blogger El Jerry. I mean, he assigned the nickname of "Zit" to respected Zavaleta! What might he have said about Adela Garza in private, or while table-hopping for friendship at Cobbleheads?

Any news to report, El Jerry?

Well, yes. Yesterday, he posted a generous piece with this headline: "TSC NEARS ONE CENTURY OF A GLORIOUS TRADITION!!!"

We're inspired to call him and ask, "With or without the Welding Recital, El Jerry?"

His personality is such that he'll wipe it off his Old Coot brain after a few beers and hope that people in the city and at the college do, as well.

That's the drill with these low-flying bloggers: Make a mess and move on...

-0-

Well, it wasn't just El Jerry. Slapdash Backbench Blogger Jimmy Barton, shown in file photo above with wife Nena, also had his feet in the still-unresolved TSC fray. Like a salivating groupie, Barton followed every El Jerry anti-TSC post with one of his own, often using wild words to describe the goings-on at the ITEC center, where the welding story lived with The Three Bears.

Barton is an easy mark.

The 75-year-old house husband is a minimum-wage dude who never went to college and, as such, never worked a professional job. We've repeatedly asked him if he even graduated high school, but he never answers. "A GED, Jimmy?" we asked, but, again, no answer. He has written about his many exploits as a grocery store bagger/cashier at some joint known as Glen's Grocery Store on Boca Chica Blvd., as a motel clerk and as a shrimp boat unloader at the Port of Brownsville.

Yeah, that's the heady dude who was ragging degreed college administrators, including Dr. Jesus Rodriguez, the TSC president.

If you check out Barton's blog, you'll notice that he, as well, has been posting pretty positive stuff about TSC. Is it regret? Is it some sort of penitence? Is it an apology. Maybe. But we say the eventual lame backsliding is typical of these two amateurish bloggers. Throw out some dirt at someone you suddenly hate and worry about the makeup kiss later.

Both El Jerry and Jimmy Barton are now kissing TSC ass daily...

-0-

Still at it, yes. County employee Jesus Rosas Jr, no relation to Albert Einstein, is hellbent on winning the job of sheriff of Cameron County. Why?

Rosas does not have the face, height or "look" of a sheriff. You look at him in that goofy mustache and used hat and you say to yourself, "No, not that guy." But he's still a candidate, even as actual Sheriff Eric Garza lives the part.

Law crooner Rosas isn't saying much, not even at hearing that Garza is having his campaign signs made and paid for some Gulf City Rollers over in Matamoros, Mexico. Oh, and now Garza is in alleged receipt of a gold-plated pistol, if we're to believe pro-Mexicans Blogger Johnny Montoya.

Rosas seems to be okay with that stuff.

He's saying nothing.

The McAllen Sun is engaging a poll to find out exactly where Rosas stands in the race, which also has a second challenger in 1950s dude Ronnie Saenz.

Get a cowboy hat, Ronnie!

Ha ha ha...

-0-

TSC Chair Adela Garza, shown in photo above, is still laughing at Blogger El Jerry McHale and Loose Stool Jimmy Barton after their disastrous and impotent attack on the local junior college. It is being said in college circles that Ms. Garza even joked about not laughing this much since the evening she won her last reelection.

The low-flying bloggers are both home treating their anuses with daily Sitz baths.

Who could blame the lovely Adela for saying, "Those two blogging losers pasted a disgruntled welding student's face on their asses and they're having a tough time getting it off!"

Barton is even trying outside showers.

McHale reads Kafka and The McAllen Sun to see where his wacko/do-nothing lifestyle went wrong and all while in the bathtub moving his gluts to and fro, as recommended by his proctologist.

Nothing more came out of the Welding Recital (trouble within the TSC Welding Program, they bellowed day after day after day!) pumped-up as if a world crisis by the two non-Journalists. It's been more than two weeks, and, well, the story seems to have burned out.

Both are now posting pro-TSC material.

Ja ja ja...

-0-

Word has it that a lot of Brownsville women are hitting-up on Google looking for ways to trim the fat. That JELLY ROLL is the bane of the city's sweethearts, according to Google, which logs these things.

Who knows what it means for local men and the future of this luckless border town?

I mean, it's been coming for years and years and years. The thin, in-shape woman is not to be found in Brownsville. And it won't be so long as the local diet is rich in greasy tacos and tamales de puerco.

Name me one man who tells his Brownsville woman what she can and cannot eat.

Tick tock, tick tock.

I'm waiting.

Ha ha ha...

-0-

Bumbling Blogger El Jerry McHale seems to be telling his readers he's back in good graces with Texas Southmost College Trustee Tony Zavaleta after dragging him thru trailer park effluent for weeks, this after El Jerry took complaints about the college's welding program from a few disgruntled students.

That's El Jerry in blue shirt above, with Zavaleta in the background.

There is, however, no word from aggrieved Zavaleta that he, indeed, has mended fences with the ever-lying blogger.

Not one word.

El Jerry, who will be 74 years old in December, has no friends and a life that without blogging would be no life at all.

Oh, and by the way, we checked on his claim to have played football at Sacramento State in his home state of California when younger. He didn't.

The school's Sports Information Director told us he could find no record of a Jerry McHale or a Gerald F. McHale ever playing for the school's team. The Sacramento State University Registrar's Office also told us he had never been enrolled there.

Lying Blogger.

Ha ha ha...

-0-

Yes, Maria. The weather is turning cooler in Brownsville. Even as it remains as the one Rio Grande Valley City that contributes less and less to border culture, it does enjoy the same cooldown its neighboring cities and towns enjoy.

You can walk downtown streets and feel the change in seasons. Dust is still there, but it is a bit cooler thanks to the environment never ever settling in only on the good and hard-working cities. Brownsville should get nothing, of course.

It is the least-productive city in the Valley, the one settlement with the most unaccomplished, under-performing residents.

You spend any amount of time in rotgut Brownsville and you are handed the Map to Nowhere at the City Limits, there handed to you by a person who looks out of sorts with civilization.

Hey, they tell me Charro Days is coming.

Ja ja ja ja...

-0-

The cool & overly-expensive Range Rover is the status symbol in McAllen these days. In Harlingen, it is the utilitarian Ford Bronco.

If you see a car like the one shown in photo above, well, you're in Brownsville.

It is the dumping ground of most of the region's used cars. Dealers take them in trade in neighboring Mexico and then sell them to used car lots in Brownsville, where the market for such vehicles is said to be red-hot.

So, think about that as a potential business for you and your pals.

Used cars or bus shelters, Baby.

That's the ticket.

Ja ja jaja...

-0-

 

So, yeah, get out and enjoy the cooler weather. Drop by your local taqueria and order a warmed-over six-taco plate of the crispy chicken variety.

You can never go wrong with tacos.

Laterz...

-30-

SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."I Saw You First"...

SUN SHORTS:...Stories To Be Told...Some Kind Of Love...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas |...For a small place, well, the neighbors said it was a world-full of love, romance that had turned to family and then to history. No one had written it yet, but the word was that the essence of humanity had walked into the old frame house and everywhere inside it, especially when the kids had been kids and in school.

Few of the neighbors knew the family well, and it was the rural postman who served as bearer of news & info from the address at the high-end of the dirt road.

Some said the faithful husband worked far from home, that he only came to see his family on occasional weekends. And they noted somewhat sadly that the loyal wife, a plain-looking woman with broad shoulders and stout legs, did most of the repair work on the property.

Someone told someone who told someone else that he'd seen her busily chopping down a tree and stacking chunks of the trunk, as if for firewood.

The kids played up and down the unpaved road, sometimes with a ball and at others with each other. Playing tag, that stuff that used to be an art, one lost to the kids being raised in the city.

When the postman one day went around saying the family had left the house, no one did more than momentarily raise an eyebrow. What do you say about neighbors you do not know? Nothing, of course. Like the old house that would remain abandoned and ultimately decay, the family that had lived in it was just a fading memory.

But there had to be love there, even if it was the barest of love, for it's a known fact that a house that becomes a home needs that, seeks it and, even for a few moments in universal time, gets it...

-30-

WAR:...Not Quite 9/11 or Pearl Harbor For Israel...More Like Vietnam...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Some are calling the surprise attack on Israel as the country's 9/11 and others are comparing it to the attack on our Pearl Harbor. Truth be told, it is more like just another day in Vietnam during that conflict.

Israel and Palestine have been at it for a bit more than seven decades, since Israel gained statehood on May 14, 1948.

Fighting - bombs and missiles - has been a part of this relationship that long. Neighbors at each other's neck, occasional peace talks, but never the solution.

So far, in Day 3 of the war, more than 1,100 people have been killed by both sides and an untold number taken hostage by Hamas terrorists based in Palestine.

As always, it is the people of Gaza catching the Hell from a massive Israeli counterattack.

This from lemonde.fr: [ The death toll surged to almost 1,100 since Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its massive surprise attack on Israel with a barrage of rockets and a large-scale ground assault, officials on both sides said on Sunday, October 8.

The conflict's worst escalation in decades has claimed more than 600 lives on the Israeli side, the government press office said, while Gaza officials reported at least 370 deaths, with thousands more wounded on each side. Thousands of Israeli forces were deployed to battle holdout Hamas fighters in the south and the air force again pounded targets in the Gaza Strip as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a "long and difficult" war ahead.

Gun battles raged in towns and on highways as the Israeli army sought to secure desert regions near the coastal enclave, rescue Israeli hostages and evacuate all areas near Gaza within 24 hours.

"We'll reach each and every community until we kill every terrorist in Israel," vowed military spokesman Daniel Hagari, a day after hundreds of Hamas fighters launched their shock offensive and surged into Israel using vehicles, boats and even motorized paragliders. ]

The strife is not knew.

But there are a few new angles. One has Iran working feverishly to arm Hamas. Another has the Saudis engaging Israel in an effort to avoid a complete wipeout of Palestine, as most Israeli right-wing politicians have suggested.

Again, many, many civilians will pay the ultimate price. Numerous bombings will mean complete destruction of Palestine neighborhoods, schools and hospital included. That has to date been the second part of the attack equation. Launch firepower, wait on a response from the Jewish state and then a sort out things a bit begore calling for a cease fire that signals not an end to the region's turmoil but just that, a pause.

This "war" is just another day for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Tomorrow guarantees nothing but another day of Jewish oppression for Palestine and fear and kidnapping for the Israelis.

For its part, the U.S. has dispatched a carrier task force to the region.

It's just a show of force and support for Israel. Again, not a solution...

-30-

STEAMY SUN ROMANCE: ..."Love Minus Zero"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

HARLINGEN, Texas:...Cool Carlos Ramirez had been a big fan of Bob Dylan's music since his freshman year days at Harlingen High School. The Texan forever saw himself as the dude behind the song.

And when he met perky Clara Gonzalez that one Friday night when the Cardinals beat the snot out of Brownsville Lopez High, 77-0, he took her by the hand, walked her to his truck and said sit there and listen to this song. A CD of Bob's Greatest Hits followed them to the town's Dairy Queen, where a confident Carlos asked Clara to be his girl for the rest of their senior year in school.

He could - and would - hug her tightly, as if dancing at the Mexican bar across town, where the women knew the score.

When the Cardinals went on a district tear, the two celebrated by driving out to the desolate cotton fields and angling-in to park in a secluded, dimly-lit spot for an excitable round of perspiration-driven lovemaking. As per their agreement, and because Clara worked at a 7-11 convenience store, Clara brought the condoms.

She thought it corny that he would bring a somewhat beaten blow-up mattress and air pump for the pickup's bed, where they first rested on their backs to stare at the high sky's stars and then got on with the body-grinding at hand.

Always, Carlos played his Dylan CD.

When the schoolyear ended, both agreed the romance had left the love balloon. Clara went on to college at Texas Tech in Lubbock and Carlos got a steady job at the mall.

They never saw each other again...

-30-

SUN SPORTS:...Your Dallas Cowboys Pistol-Whipped In San Fran...42-10...Hey, Dak!...

 

STAFF REPORT

SAN FRANCISCO | No contest. A beating through and through. Dak Prescott must go. Coach McCarthy outcoached. Cowboy fans fed-up. Season's over.

Yeah, put it out there, lad.

They stunk-up the joint. 49ers in easy 42 to 10 win over Your Dallas Cowboys.

A Cowboys team that openly pointed to Sunday’s showdown against the undefeated San Francisco 49ers for revenge from past failures and as a measuring stick for how far they have come bit off a little more than it could chew at Levi’s Stadium.

Son, it simply was no contest from start to the finish as the 49ers led 21-7 at halftime and were happily up 42-10 in the fourth quarter when quarterback Dak Prescott was benched after throwing his third interception in the second half.

Frisco went to 5-0 with the win; Dallas fell to 3-2.

Next year: Super Bowl for Da Boys!

Ha ha ha...

-30-

PICTORIAL:...War Is Hell... Again, Jews and Palestinians Get Their Bloody Taste...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | The killing is still going on today, Day Two of the stunning attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists and the counterattack by the Jews on Palestine. Civilians are paying the price. This is not a military-on-military brawl; this is outright murder of the innocent.

We offer a pictorial of the grief, the fear and the battles...

-0-

-0-

-0-

-0-

-0-

-0-

-0-

There is nothing brave about attacking civilians. And it'll be worse for the Palestinians, as more-advanced Israel launches missiles and bombs into defenseless cities and towns in hopes of hitting the Hamas terrorist cells.

The body count nears 1,000 for both sides - the overwhelming number of those being civilians far from the political bullshit that straps these two countries down.

Almost eight decades now...

-30-  

WAR:...Bibi Netanyahu Caught Off-Guard...Israelis Pay The Price...Hundreds Dead...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Bibi Netanyahu asked for it. Yesterday, he got it. The Israeli prime minister has been busy dismantling his national judicial system and ignoring the dangerous problem next door - terrorists in Palestine.

How many dead, Bibi?

The terrorist group Hamas took advantage of Bibi's distraction and rained Hell on the unprepared Jewish state. What now, the world asks of America's land-based "carrier" in the untamed Middle East. The U.S. hands Israel some $150 billion in bilateral assistance.

And Netanyahu, a conservative in the mold of American Donald J. Trump, sticks to his anti-Democracy plans.

The U.S., meanwhile, was checking on the rumored deaths of some Americans in the line of fire. 

This excerpt from axios.com: [ Hamas stunned the world when it launched a surprise air, land and sea attack against cities across Israel in the most serious incursion against the country in decades. The Israeli military retaliated with heavy bombardment against the besieged Gaza Strip.

At least 600 Israelis and 370 Palestinians have died in fighting that comes after a year of escalating violence in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Fighting continued in several areas of Israel on Sunday, with Israeli authorities announcing they would evacuate some towns near the border with Gaza in the next 24 hours.

More than 20,000 people were seeking shelter in dozens of schools in densely populated Gaza where movement is highly restricted, according to the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire after the Lebanese militant group fired rockets into northern Israel.

The conflict is unfolding amidst a deep political crisis in Israel over the Netanyahu government's judicial overhaul, which has weakened the country's military, economy and society. ]

Yeah, bang the drum slowly one more time. It's been going on for years, and it won't stop anytime soon.

This is exactly what happens, Bibi, when you isolate an entire group of people, walling them out to the sea. Palestine is a hotbed of terrorists, but who can blame them when, as a country of slingshots and arrows, it is hounded and oppressed by a neighbor with the fanciest of weapons, most supplied by the U.S.

We're not sanctioning the wanton killing of Jews, but we, again, question Israel's stronghanded approach toward the Palestinians.

The abuse and punishment is somewhat similar to what the Nazis did to the Jews of Germany in World War II.

Fact...

-30-

TRENDS:...Today's Latinas And Marijuana..."CannaJefas" & "MotaMamis"...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | You into weed, ese? You look like you are, like always. Puffing it, bro? Oh, Hell, yeah. You border rat, you. But do check out the wife's doings. She may be into it, too.

Women and Marijuana.

Never the two have met, or, well, only if you follow and believe the news media. They like to portray the use of "weed" as being a sport mainly for males. No so much anymore.

This from a report in The Los Angeles Times: [ . . . Three years ago, Latinas in Cannabis spearheaded International Latinas in Cannabis Day on Sept. 30, marking the midpoint of Hispanic Heritage Month. This year, they hosted the inaugural Latinas in Cannabis Summit, gathering cannabis enthusiasts in the backlot of a soon-to-be Echo Park dispensary.

Tickets for the summit sold out within days, emphasizing its popularity among the community of "CannaJefas" and "MotaMamis" (Canna-bosses and Weed-babes). Those lucky enough to snag a ticket spent the day engaged in workshops and panel discussions with Latina leaders in the cannabis industry.

Susie Plascencia, co-owner of L.A.-based glass bong company Mota Glass, wanted a space to uplift her business as well as the work of other Latina entrepreneurs in the male-dominated cannabis industry.

In 2020, she founded Latinas in Cannabis, an Instagram account meant to empower Latina-owned small businesses and connect them with other entrepreneurs in the field.

"We really wanted to create that space that was missing in this industry, topics that speak to the Latina and cannabis experience," Plascencia said.

Three years after Latinas in Cannabis launched, Plascencia believes they are making history with the summit, calling it "the first of its kind."

"Aside from it being a professional cannabis industry event, it’s also a sesh. You can also hit the Mota glass bong and take a joint outside on the patio," Plascencia said. ]

We've never indulged, although we really could not care less if you - or your wife - do it. The world is the playpen and God put you here for a reason - to do good or bad, love or hate, enjoy or disdain.

Women in cannabis seems a natural, wouldn't you say?

And, really, why not women?...

-30-

REPUBLICANS:...Now Batting, Number 6, Steve Garvey...Calif. Senate Run...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | He was a half-decent player, but never the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer. As a steady first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Steve Garvey was popular enough to make several All-Star Game appearances.

Now, he wants in on the U.S. Senate game.

The 74-year-old Garvey, shown in photo above, will announce this coming week that he will challenge whatever Democrat candidate surfaces to fill the California seat held until recently by deceased Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Garvey has yet to be endorsed by anyone.

This about his playing days from Wikipedia: [ Garvey played in Major League Baseball from 1969 to 1987. He was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1974 and National League Championship Series MVP in 1978 and 1984. Garvey also played for the San Diego Padres. ]

It's hard to gauge his candidacy at this point, mainly because Garvey has zero experience as a politician and is going simply on name-recognition.

Democrats are strong in California, but, well, the state did elect Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as is governor a few years back, so...

Several high-powered Democrats are seeking the seat, including Congressman Adam Schiff and congresswomen Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.

Lee and Schiff seem to be the favorites for Democrats.

And Garvey may yet see another Republican rise to challenge him in the GOP primary...

-30-

WELDING RECITAL PLAYS OUT:...Silly Bloggers Fade Into The Taqueria Woodwork...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | For a brief boring moment in town, it was the volatile story of the decade here. HUGE scandal at Texas Southmost College! Like, one more fact and the institution would crash to the ground. That was the promise offered daily by retired, aging bloggers El Jerry McHale and Jimmy Barton.

Nothing came of it.

The trouble/problem/crap going at in the college's welding program seems to have fizzled.

The boys didn't have the legs to stretch that bunt right back to the pitcher into a single. TSC is still standing.

It's been almost a week and neither excitable blogger has come forth with another breathless report on why the TSC welding certificate is meaningless. (Education is never meaningless.)

Yesterday, 73-year-old Blogger El Jerry updated the saga by now praising TSC Trustee Tony Zavaleta, the same trustee he had horse-collared for days on end, calling him a "Zit" and adding that all Tony was was a "seeing-eye dog" for TSC Chair Adela Garza.

Yesterday, a likely remorseful (or still mischievous) El Jerry labeled Tony Zavaleta a much-admired human being and a "Renaissance" man. Go figure. The effects of what medicine? Yeah.

As for lesser typist Barton, well, he went on to inform his dwindling readership how some people measure the height of mountains (there is not one mountain for hundreds of miles from here). And then the unemployed 75-year-old house husband charged out of the chute like a crazed banshee one more time to take TSC President Dr. Jesus Rodriguez to task for daring to hire an assistant from the Rio Grande Valley and not from New York.

Barton does not have a college degree, Dr. Rodriguez has several. 

It is the let-down of the year! Readers expected some police raids, an arrest or two and some indictments, fer chrissakes. Nothing of the sort has happened.

TSC buckled down and went about its business. If there is a problem with the welding program, well, they're dealing with it internally.

The bloggers tucked their tails between their legs and ambled off lamely.

Neither has serious experience as news reporters, El Jerry one measly year as a sportswriter for The Herald, balding Barton years as grocery store cashier/bagger, a motel clerk and a shrimp boat unloader. They just didn't know how to handle it, how to work the sources, how to pressure TSC administrators, how to keep the story fluid, how to connect the fuckin' dots!

In the end, El Jerry and his tonto Barton simply did not have the skill.

So much for high (anxiety) excitement in The City That Always Sleeps...

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Photo of substandard bloggers El Jerry and Jimmy Barton above was taken like 10 years ago. But it shows them together, so...]

TRENDS:...Hispanics Are Not Leaving Democrat Biden...Not For Trump...Not Enough Of Them Anyway...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McAllen, Texas | It's the usual line about this time in our national politics when a presidential race looms just over the horizon. Where does that sizable bloc of Hispanic voters stand on the candidates? Are they sticking with their traditional home, the Democratic Party, or flirting with the wonders of quick, post-election abandonment in the Republican Party?

You can find hundreds of news articles online, some from prestigious news outlets, with an opinion on this topic. Votes will be harvested by both sides. Votes will be a hot item from all Americans.

But these parties - and the news organizations - make a big deal about the Hispanic vote.

Yeah, ho hum to that shallow and silly approach. But it's who we are in this grass-whorled country - each and every one of us a consumer of news and an American looking for places on the political shelf.

Hispanics are not leaving President Joe Biden.

Get that silliness out of your head. There may be some who do, but the number is simply not large enough to say there is a withdrawal of old values.

This from a report in the conservative Newsweek Magazine: [ Latinos share President Biden and Democrats' values, and the major party and administration are delivering for them. During the Biden-Harris administration the U.S. has achieved the lowest Latino unemployment rate on record, the fastest creation rate of Hispanic-owned businesses in more than a decade, reduced the Latino child poverty rate by more than seven percent, expanded access to health care and disability benefits, reduced homelessness, and achieved historic unemployment rates for veterans, including for the nearly 1.6 million Latino veterans.

Recent Voting trends in Latino-heavy populations like Nevada and Arizona make it clear Latinos strongly line-up behind Democrats.

They all want the same thing: a safe place to raise our children and to contribute to society. As immigrants arrive in the U.S., a tradition as old as this country, and begin their civic engagement, there is no doubt the Democratic Party is the most in sync with the values of an American Dream. It's easy to say that the principles on which this country was founded are being stripped away. That is daunting. ]

The 2024 presidential election is no different than the 2020 one, or the previous 10 or 20. Hispanics are playing the game with a bit more sophistication now, but they've always been there.

I just don't see Hispanics leaving the Democratic Party in droves.

As I noted, some will, and some of those will be newfangled political candidates in the Republican Party, because the Republican Party welcomes them for a devious reason. Those misguided Hispanics, sadly, are being humored, as they will never actually rise to any position of importance.

That's a cold fact, I know.

Sadly, it is so true, yes.

Biden will campaign for these votes, as he will campaign for all votes, but can rest easy in knowing the overwhelming number of Hispanics will be on his side, arriving on Election Day to contribute to his next victory.

You can take that to the banco...

-30-

DEMOCRATS:...Border Wall Gets Attention...Smacks Of 2024 Election For Joe Biden...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | The handy optic: Hey, Democrats can also build Border Walls. President Joe Biden is now into it, as they say in fads. News reports have it that a surge in migrants arriving at the country's southern border is on the rise again.

Biden wants some action.

This excerpt from The Associated Press: [ The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it had waived 26 federal laws in South Texas to allow border wall construction, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during the Trump presidency.

The Department of Homeland Security posted the announcement on the U.S. Federal Registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr County, which is part of a busy Border Patrol sector seeing "high illegal entry." According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded in this region during the current fiscal year.

"There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas," Alejandro Mayorkas, the DHS secretary, stated in the notice.

The Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act were some of the federal laws waived by DHS to make way for construction that will use funds from a congressional appropriation in 2019 for border wall construction. The waivers avoid time-consuming reviews and lawsuits challenging violation of environmental laws.

Starr County’s hilly ranchlands, sitting between Zapata and McAllen, is home to about 65,000 residents sparsely populating about 1,200 square miles (3,108 square kilometers) that form part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

Although no maps were provided in the announcement, a previous map shared during the gathering of public comments shows the piecemeal construction will add up to an additional 20 miles to the existing border barrier system in the area. Starr County Judge Eloy Vera said it will start south of the Falcon Dam and go past Salineño, Texas.

"The other concern that we have is that area is highly erosive. There’s a lot of arroyos," Vera said, pointing out the creeks cutting through the ranchland and leading into the river. ]

It smacks of that same Ol' Band-Aid approach we have seen for years now. Biden is looking at the 2024 election and thinking he has to have something to tell voters about his response to the migrant surge.

As always, the environment be damned...

-30-

EATING OUT:...Dining Solo In The City Of Palms...How She Ate...How My Food Got Cold...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | I sat solo three tables over but with a straight line of view from her eyes to mine. I would look over and see her mouth receive the fork and take the food to her teeth, which were pretty, even from the five- or six-feet distance that separated us at the restaurant.

She was not all that attractive, although certainly not unattractive.

Initially, I had looked at her because of the slow way she ate. It was almost melodic, perfect timing and for sure a sexy bite accompanying her every bite. I had caught her style after the third or fourth look-over.

Perhaps it was her usual way, but I was taken by how she would lift the fork up to her mouth, grab the piece of meat by her teeth and then stash it there while chewing it. The fork would stay up there next to her lips, as if some moment of thanks.

And here's why we're here: Unnerved is what I was when she began taking a bite and then looking over to me. For a brief moment, but it was discernible. I wanted to run over to her table and kiss her, a huge smack right there right behind the next bite.

As I said the semi-attractive woman, about in her mid-30s, was no great beauty. She was, however, messing with my mind and especially with my own lips, which were dying to get over there. It never happened.

But when she got up to leave, she threw me a Texas wink, one adorned with a tiny smile and an open range flirtatious look all across her face, teen-age laughter on a fast gallop from her lungs.

I was having meat loaf and it had gotten cold...

-30-

REPUBLICANS:...Hardliners Take Lead In House Speaker Search...Scalise and Jordan, Both MAGA...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Two well-known Republican hardliners are emerging as possible replacements for ousted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, one a former college wrestling coach accused of ignoring sexual harassment of his wrestlers by team doctors and the other a dude who says he is racist "David Duke without the baggage."

Meet the coach, Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio (shown at right in photo above)

And meet Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, the David Duke fan (shown at left in photo above).

Both have surfaced as leading candidates for the thankless Speaker's post, both arriving with clear Donald J. Trump blessings, both talking tough about the Mexican border, the Joe Biden Administration, no aid for Ukraine and, among other issues, no more prosecution of the aforementioned Trump.

McCarthy was ousted in a stunning vote yesterday. He has now said he will not seek the job.

This about Scalise from a fellow Republican who requested anonymity: [Scalise’s moves are already being met with some backlash. One member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus suggested that Scalise would be no different than malleable McCarthy as speaker. "Since conservatives are concerned about the poor scheduling of appropriations bills this year, why would we elevate the person in charge of the schedule, the majority leader, to speaker?" the lawmaker asked. ]

The other candidate, 59-year-old Jordan shown in photo above, is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus made up of hard-right Republicans also known as MAGA Republicans. Jordan at present is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the one that has been investigating presidential son Hunter Biden in what Republicans say is a case of wanton lawbreaking, bribery, tax fraud and drug-use.

Jordan was first elected in 2007 as congressman from Ohio's 4th District. Earlier in his adult life, he was a college wrestler and later a wrestling coach at Ohio State University, where he faced allegations of turning a blind eye to student wrestler complaints that the team doctor was sexually harassing them. Jordan has denied knowledge of the harassment.

Scalise's claim to fame had earlier come from being shot by an assailant as he practiced with the Republican Party's softball team in Washington, D.C. That incident, involving an armed man who later told police he did it because he hated Republicans, happened on July 14, 2017. Scalise suffered a serious wound to his upper thigh and left side of his torso, enduring long months of recovery and rehabilitation in a hospital.

Hardliner Scalise is 57. He represents the 1st Congressional District of Louisiana and has been serving as the House Majority Leader prior to McCarthy's ouster. He has been in Congress since 2008. (McCarthy is shown in photo above) 

A few other Republican members of the House have been mentioned, but it is Scalise and Jordan who seem to have the inside lane...

-30-

MEXICO:...Drug Cartels Float Banners Claiming Fentanyl Is Not Their Gig...

 

STAFF REPORT

CULIACAN, Mexico | They've been hit hard by U.S. authorities as being responsible for the loads and loads of killing Fentanyl drugs moving across the border and into American hands.

The cartels now beg to differ.

This from a recent report at mexiconewsdaily.com: [ The banners seen in Sinaloa say the production and sale of fentanyl - an opioid responsible for a spike in overdoses in the U.S. in recent years - is banned by "Los Chapitos." ]

Banned, they say.

No comment yet from U.S. officials...

-30-