TRIALS:...Trump Testifies Today...NY Court Will Then Decide How Much He Will Pay For Defrauding The State Of New York...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | He's up next, like this morning. That would be one Donald J. Trump walking up to the witness stand in his $250 million fraud trial.

It comes as the trial is winding down, but it's just him and daughter Ivanka left off the diseased family tree. Sons Donald Jr and Eric testified last week, offering curt, well-rehearsed answers to questions about who within the Trump organization was responsible for inflating the value of assets when meeting with bankers for loans and deflating them when filing taxes.

It's been a television news comedy without good joke writers, unless you believe the Trumps' testimony has been laughable.

This excerpt from newrepublic.com: [ New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron has had enough, apparently. The gag order silencing Donald Trump in the $250 million bank fraud trial is now extended to Trump’s entire legal team, according to a judge’s order issued Friday.

In his written order, Engoron banned Trump’s attorneys from commenting on his courtroom staff.

"Since the commencement of this bench trial, my chambers have been inundated with hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages. The First Amendment right of defendants and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far and away outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm," Engoron wrote in the supplemental gag order, noting that he has an "unfettered right" to consult with his staff throughout the trial.

Violating the new order would come with "serious sanctions," he warned. ]

So, knowing Fast Donald's penchant for addressing the press on the steps of the courthouse at every opportunity, one wonders whether he will be able to restrain himself today.

He'll testify. And he'll likely say what his sons told the court, that it is his accountants who are to blame for the massive fraud.

The thing is Engoron has already found the Trump Organization GUILTY of fraud.

This testimony is solely for the purpose of allowing Engoron to feel good about his final decision on just how much Trump will have to pay the State of New York for defrauding it.

Good luck, Don...

-30-

BLOGGER JIM BARTON: ...He Takes Stuff From Our Response To His Silliness, But Here It Is In Its Entirety...Son, Real News Is Hell...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | We've always been competitive. That's the nature of the news business in the Big Time. Here locally, not so much, but we do have our critics and haters - like ever-boring, milquetoast Brownsville Blogger Jim Barton of motel clerk and dockworker fame.

He is shown in photo above, at center.

Earlier, he had posted a rather lame story about how I waste my writing talent, seeming somewhat eager to show me that he appreciated my skill and wished I didn't "destroy" other bloggers.

Then later in morning, he posted his usual attack on me, with dumb photoshopped photos of yours truly, as if that hurts me. I've had critics all my writing life, from actual news reporters too-jealous to be believed to writers of letters-to-the-editor who wished me death and unemployment.

Barton? He's a harmless, spineless minnow.

But here in its entirety is the letter we sent him, just to set things straight since he took only some from it for his attack post:

-0-

. . . "Well, It's Sunday morning, so I'll be kind. First of all, (HA!) I don't see you or Lying Jerry as competitors in even the barest definition of the word. Both you and McHale are largely unaccomplished "pseudo, psychobabble journalists," and Montoya's mostly-Brownsville Herald experience pales against mine. You know it and we all know it.

My anger at you is that you believe yourself to be a newsman, when you're nothing of the sort.

You're a motel/dock worker quick to steal "position," wear homemade PRESS badges and, now, feature ideas off my Blog.

Most of my readers are from McAllen. My use of Brownsville is simply because it lucked out and found itself in the Rio Grande Valley. There is a difference between my hometown of McAllen and Brownsville - a big difference. I just note it occasionally and you go all-Moron.

You're not a reporter, not an educated one, at least. You are the Journalism equivalent of the clowns accused of "Stolen Valor" when posturing themselves as military veterans when they never, like you, served!

And the biggest laugh is that you believe I care what you and El Lying Jerry think of me.

I was written about in The Village Voice and the New York Daily News when I worked in the Big Apple. You think words from you, a Literal Nobody, affect me? Get real, fool!

And I never said shit about your wife in a sexual manner. If I did, it was after you threw that stuff about my "plump" lady friend from Kyle, Texas. She wasn't plump and had great teeth, plus she was a millionaire. All I said was that you should get Ana some dental care. That overbite looks awful.

Finally, I come here (to Jimmy's Laundromat Bulletin Board blog) looking for material for my weekly TACO TUESDAY feature. You (and Lying, Elderly-About-Town Jerry) never disappoint me.

And thanks for the compliments. I've heard that for years, and that's not bragging. You should ask ex-Herald Reporter Rey Guevara-Vasquez about my work for The Houston Post. I got him a job there in the 1980s. He and I even covered the Great Earthquake of 1985 in Mexico City. Rey won't lie, 'cause he's been there in the Big City newsroom. Don't publish this; just paste it on your expansive forehead.

Paz out..."

-0-

There, that's what riled-up Jimmy Boy.

He's an accomplishment loser from way back. Tell us about why your family moved from Washington to the Valley when you were of draft age (and never served). What about your formal education? Did you attend Brownsville High, or did you get a handy GED?

What other jobs have you had? List a few. We all know that your lovely, deserved-better ex-wife Nenny (shown in photo at right), the one whose body you donated to science, worked all her life to help support you, as is doing your current wife, the Filipina Ana.

Go ahead, Tell it all, brother. Impress us with the truth.

It'll free you from that heavy load you carry in your head and on your shoulders, making you look like an elderly, physically-eccentric slob.

The weird "who knows?" word is you're a societal loser and an unaccomplished, balding Old Man. The one you think is your best friend used to call me often and the things he said about you and Ana's "Southmost" appearance would no doubt piss you off.

I say, "Own it all..."

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...I am a proud U.S. Navy veteran, having served four years of active duty as a Corpsman (medic) - two years with the U.S. Marines, at Camp Pendleton in California and at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina...]   

DEMOCRATS:...Law Says Mayra Flores Can Certainly Pay Herself $60,000 From Campaign Contributions ...Democrats Blinded By Partisan Hate...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | ...There was the star-crossed Blogger Juan A. Montoya, a lifelong Democrat, ragging on Republican Mayra Flores for having the audacity to pay herself a $5,000-per-month salary off her hefty campaign contributions.

It's all cool. It is not illegal, but Democrats always go nuts pointing things out. The salary over a year's period would be $60,000.

In 2002, the Federal Election Commission voted to allow candidates running for Congress or president to use their campaign contributions to pay themselves salaries.

The move was intended to make it easier for people who are not wealthy to quit their jobs and run for office. Without a campaign salary, they are at a disadvantage against incumbents, who collect taxpayer-paid salaries as they seek re-election.

We're okay with this. It is, after all, campaign contributions and NOT taxpayer funds. You contribute to a candidate and, well, that candidate is free to use that cash as it best fits his or her campaign. Some candidates use contributions to pay for legal expenses, as we have seen with grubby Republican Donald J. Trump.

But then we ran into a lively give & take on the Facebook page availed by well-known Republican (and former Democrat) Carlos Cascos. We were and weren't surprised by his argument.

He had this to say: "It is self-serving for elected officials or candidates to utilize campaign funds to pay themselves 5 or 6 figure salaries in addition to paying for meals, groceries & incidentals to subsidize their lifestyle or livelihood for themselves and/or family members. For those that do it should be asked to explain the rationale.....it just doesn't look right to me, regardless of position or political affiliation. Period."

Well, okay.

Sure, it doesn't look good. But as we noted, it is NOT illegal. And working with the premise that if something is not illegal...it is legal, then what Mayra Flores is doing is just fine.

It is.

Looks and appearances is what Mr. Cascos, a former Cameron County Judge and ex-Texas Secretary of State, is saying. We would wish all politicians to take his position, but they don't. We all know they don't, so...

As always, the people who ultimately count on all political arguments are the voters.

Voters will decide Mayra's fate in the party primary next Spring. Will this "Pay Myself" move mean much by then? No. Mayra remains the overwhelming favorite to win her primary contest and then tackle Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in the November,2024 General Election. 

By the way, Democrat Beto O'Rourke left his defeat to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott with a large amount of cash (a few million) still in his campaign coffers.

What's he doing with it? Democrats aren't asking.

Using it as best he sees fit, likely also taking a few bucks for himself.

Don't rag on party favorite Mayra Flores for the legal things she's doing; look for anything she may be doing that is illegal. I mean, if you hate her that much, like Blogger Montoya...

-30-

SUN SPOTS:...The Wild With A View...About That Romantic Moon And Moonlit Nights...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas |...There was a big, fat moon out last night, rising cold and mineral, moving as it always does around our celestial sphere, Earth. You can stare at it, or you can ignore it.

It's too far to claim, although we do, 'cause, like a loyal wife, it revolves around our world.

They say our moon was born from violence, that something else hit Earth and out went a large amount of dirt that eventually framed itself into what is now that symbol of romance, the moon.

Moonlight is being blamed for many a fling, adultery included. But the moon has no light of its own. It is merely reflecting sunlight, so in those private moments when you feel it was that silly moon that set your love life in motion, well, if it was moonlight you credit then you should really give thanks to the sun.

I know. I know.

Silly Humans are hopeless believers, ingrained with that herd mentality that says we owe so much to the stars and the Heavens. Perhaps we do, but... And I wonder if the dinosaur thought as much, that when they would die they would go to a better place.

We're supposed to be sorta formed in the physical image of God. The dinosaurs, it says here, likely had their own. They got wiped out by something that came from way up there in the sky. Not much was left for their biography.

It is Man who has unearthed facts about their time on Earth. You should know that when the end comes for Man, well, I doubt the surviving cockroach will have time to write books or school papers about our brief time in the universe.

Enjoy the view out your window today, whatever it is and wherever you are...

-30-

TIME:...It's Fall...So Set Your Watch And Clock Back One Hour...See You Next March 10 For The Spring Forward...

 

STAFF REPORT

McALLEN, Texas | Well, we're back here. Yeah, that time of the year. Time change, Baby. Set your watch and clock back an hour at 2:00 AM tomorrow morning. You know the drill: Spring Forward; Fall Back.

We're into Fall, so fall back.

This from www.axios.com [ The biannual changing of the clocks takes place this Sunday as we "fall back" to standard time after nearly eight months in daylight saving time.

The twice-yearly clock changes likely won't stop anytime soon with efforts in Congress to make daylight saving time permanent stalled since March.

Health experts and lawmakers agree that switching the clock back and forth should end but haven't reached a consensus on whether permanent daylight saving time or year-round standard time is best.

In the 1970s, the last time Congress made daylight saving time permanent, the decision was reversed in less than a year after the early morning darkness proved dangerous for school children and public sentiment changed.]

So, enjoy the extra hour of sleep.

And see you March 10th for the next change...

-30-

WAR:...Israel Out To Kill All Palestinians...No Distinction Made Between Terrorists and Civilians...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | So, what's Israel going to do once it bombs Palestine off the face of the Earth. We ask: Does it have a grand plan for the land? It's been almost a month since the latest Israeli-Hamas entanglement went for the weaponry of death.

Now, some 10,000 Palestinians are dead, thousands of buildings downed and no end in sight for the killing invasion by the Israelis.

Can we even want to see the end? Is there something new for both warring countries on the horizon. The quarreling has been going on for long decades. Is this just another ballgame, one with fancier bombs, more victims and an Israeli bent on making it the final countdown?

We draw on a bit of telling history in the following paragraphs. 

This excerpt from lemonde.fr.com: [ "This whole operation is different from previous ones. We are not hitting only terrorists and launchers, but also the whole Hamas government and all its wings. We are hitting government buildings, production factories, security wings and more. We are demanding governmental responsibility from Hamas and are not making distinctions between the various wings. After this latest operation, there will not be one Hamas building left standing in Gaza and we plan to change the rules of the game."

This statement above is by a deputy chief of General Staff of the Israeli army is not recent. It dates back to December 27, 2008. Dan Harel made it on the third day of the war in Gaza, which pitted Israel against Hamas, who ruled over the narrow strip of land ever since the forced ousting of the Palestinian Authority one year earlier.

Fifteen years and three other offensives against Hamas later, the Israeli authorities have once again set themselves the lofty goal of eradicating the entire organization responsible for the massacres of Israeli civilians perpetrated on October 7. With the Palestinian question reduced to a security challenge, Israel's response is strictly military. ]

There is no talk yet about what would come next, after victory.

Revenge has been the motivation, although Israeli forces have killed an untold number of civilians in their ongoing invasion, children included.

The fight at present, although somewhat justified, is not a fair fight.

Israel has the latest weaponry supplied by the United States. The U.S. is not aiding Palestinians.

And it's true that terror-bent Hamas uses Palestinians to shield it from attack. Whether the world believes that to be enough to wholly side by Israel is another matter altogether. Huge demonstrations in Europe have taken the Israelis to task for its al-out assault on Gaza, civilians be damned.

President Joe Biden has apparently told Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to exert cautiousness in the face of mounting criticism from other countries.

Netanyahu has said nothing in response.

Israel, it says here, makes a big mistake in deflecting calls for a "cease fire" and continuing the wanton killing of civilians...

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Bottom photo - I'm not a big fan of McDonald's grub. My lovely friend Laura wanted to stop by yesterday afternoon, so we did for a quick bite. This is the photo I took from inside the popular fast-food joint on N. 10th Street...]

CULTURE WARS:...One Rich American Is Spending Loads Of Cash To Foment Unrest ...Yeah, Bring Your "Culture War" Project...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | How badly do some people want to change society? Wildly bad. Buzz words like "culture wars" are in our daily lexicon now, and there are a growing number of Americans wholly bent on seeing those changes become, well, our life.

Rich guy Chris Rufo, shown in photo above, is one willing to spend a load of his cash to bring and make those changes.

This excerpt from newrepublic.com: [ A conservative activist has unveiled a fellowship that aims to help "conservative journalists, activists, and opinion leaders" foment a culture war.

Christopher Rufo, an ally of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has become a leading figure in conservative education policy. He first gained national attention by instigating the explosive debate of critical race theory, which has now become a rightwing buzzword for diversity of thought.

Rufo unveiled the "Manhattan Institute Logos Fellowship" this week.

"Fellows will bring a specific ‘culture war’ project to the program, which our team will help nurture over the course of the year," he wrote in the announcement. The goal is to help move these independent projects from conception to execution, so that they begin to shape the discourse and change public policy. Some topics that we hope to address are critical race theory, gender ideology, higher education reform, crime and policing, and civil rights law."

One benefit of the program is that fellows will be able to network with "cable news bookers, policy makers, and aligned organizations to promote the dissemination of ideas and policy proposals." ]

Civil rights law? You know what that means - ridding the country of laws protecting the unfortunate, keeping them from voting and the granting of equal standing under the law. 

Is anyone fighting this, or are we seeing the early fingers of our very different future?

No, and yes.

It is always interesting to see what our monied population is up to, especially in the political world. Rufo seems bent on this and some in the country are looking for such moves.

Is it good or bad.

That depends on your particular point of view, although change always has been part of our national politics.

We'll see...

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...A new business has opened along N. 10th Street in McAllen. Taqueria 501 arrived on the scene recently. Taquerias are rare in North McAllen. Most of them are on South 10th Street and over on 23rd Street. This one is kinda cool...]    

REPUBLICANS:...Boots-Lover Ron DeSantis Loses Another One...Florida Sen. Rick Scott Endorses Trump...Everybody Hates DeSantis...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Drowning Ron DeSantis loses another one. The Republican governor of Florida seems to be going under water fast in his bid for the party's 2024 presidential nomination. Could it be the altered cowboy boots that are supposed to make him look taller?

Could be.

It also could be that Republicans just don't like him.

This from axios.com: [ Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R, shown in photo above) on Thursday endorsed former President Trump for president in 2024 in a blow to his home state governor, Ron DeSantis.

Scott held off on any endorsement during the 2016 Republican primary until Florida held its contest. He endorsed Trump after he won a decisive victory in the state.

Scott, a longtime Trump ally, also ran a pro-Trump super PAC in 2016.

Scott, who reportedly considered a presidential bid for himself, has had a tension with DeSantis. He told NBC News that DeSantis "has never talked to me about an endorsement."

"It's time for the Republican Party to come together, behind one candidate, and declare with one voice that we are united in our efforts to defeat Joe Biden and rescue America," Scott wrote in an opinion piece published by Newsweek. ]

We earlier wrote that DeSantis is going nowhere in this contest and is likely only pinning his chances on, say, the possible death of frontrunner Donald J. Trump between now and the Republican Primary in the spring.

He's wallowing, and that's putting it kindly.

DeSantis has never caught-on with the wild MAGA types and the traditional Republicans disdain his attempt to be another Trump.

How many more endorsements from his home state can he lose?

Eventually, all of them, it says here...

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Photo at bottom of post - A new Hong Kong Asian Supermarket has opened along busy N. 10th Street in McAllen. It's an expansive store with some really weird stuff you'd never find at your local H-E-B. When we cruised by, the store was busy-busy...This, btw, is a new wrinkle to our posting - including something local in a state or national story...]

SEASONS:...What A Great Concept?...Cool And Then Warmer...Cold And Then Hotter...Life Is So Daily...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...There is, of course, the wondrous side of things here. Why four seasons? Hot & cool and mild & cold - perhaps God's idea of a neat joke.

Well, maybe not a joke.

More like a lesson in change, which is what Life actually is for most humans. My God is one special character in this novel I have been living. He throws me here and there, always with me being ever-attentive to his commandments, although, like many in his flock, at times flailing and failing.

What a great ride! We're into Fall, although the part of the country where I live has but two seasons: the long, hot summer of May-November and the cooldown from November to April.

Still, to know that other points on the map do enjoy four distinct seasons is enough for the road-tired brain. That it's there is more than enough for me. I have enjoyed them all, in various sectors of this great land.

On the lip of our dawning Holiday Season, I am shopping for a new thin sweater. No thick ones need here in this sub-tropical region I currently call home. Maybe next year I'll move to a part of the country where I'll need an actual "jacket". LL Bean no doubt tires of sending me promotional material on its spectacular winterwear.

I'm up for it, yes...

-30-

SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."This One"...

REPUBLICANS:...Short Isn't Selling? Ron DeSantis Tries Elevator Boots...Not A Cool Look, But...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It's the halting walk, that awkward step and odd bounce of the sort you see in men wearing outsized, ill-fitting cowboy boots. Graceless Ron DeSantis, still a candidate for president, can't seem to pull it off. The wearing of "elevated" boots, we mean.

He claims to be 5'11" in height, but that is being questioned, even as he flails hopelessly in his ongoing quest for the Republican Party's 2024 nomination.

Those who have seen him in person say he's closer to 5'8" tall.

DeSantis, governor of Florida, won't say how tall he is or whether the new boots he's wearing have been altered to make him appear taller.

This excerpt from vanityfair.com: [ DeSantis has said and done a lot of uniquely awful things over the past several years that should preclude him from ever becoming president of the United States. From championing Florida’s bigoted "Don’t Say Gay" law to signing a six-week abortion ban to declaring that he’d "start slitting throats [in the federal workforce] on day one," the list is long, varied, and terrifying.

Should appearing to wear height-enhancing lifts in his boots for a couple extra inches and refusing to cop to such measures also be on that list?

Not really, no. But it’s a strange thing that definitely doesn’t help! Especially since, according to a deeply reported new story, the governor is almost certainly trying to pull a fast one re: his stature. ]

Yeah, who cares? He's so flawed in so many other areas of his political life that his height rests somewhere low on his problems. But he is thinking otherwise. Wearing those "customized" cowboy boots make him look like a damaged skeleton as he walks across, say, a stage ahead of a speech.

But he's not answering the question.

Elevated cowboy boots is a strange combination of words. We'll go ahead and ask: What cowboy would do that to his boots, much less wear them?

High heels next, Ron?...

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...About the other photo in this posting - we noticed this morning that the price of Bolillos at H-E-B has risen from 25 cents to 42 cents apiece. That's a hefty raise...] 

TRIALS:...Troubled Trumps To Testify In (Egads!!!) $250 Million Fraud Case...1st Up Is Son Don Jr...Then Eric And Ivanka...Donald Takes Stand On Monday...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It's legal high-wire time for the troubled Donald Trump family. Court trials are never a good place for siblings to trade testimony, but it begins today in Trump's $250 million fraud trial in New York.

First up on the stand is Donald, Jr.

That is to be followed tomorrow by brother Eric. Daughter Ivanka had been scheduled for this Friday but will now testify next week. She is shown in photo above.

Dad will take the stand on Monday.

At issue in the case before no-nonsense Judge Arthur Engoron is how much Trump will have to pay the Empire State for his crooked dealings. The Trump Organization was found guilty of defrauding New York earlier by the same judge. This is the penalty phase.

From newsweek.com: [ New York Attorney General Letitia James will be searching for any inconsistencies in evidence between the Trump children in the $250 million fraud case being taken against the Trump Organization, a federal attorney has said.

The lawsuit accuses the former president and other defendants, including his companies and his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, of fraudulently inflating the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and insurance deals. Trump and his children have denied any wrongdoing in the case.

Donald Trump Jr. will be the first of the Trump siblings to give evidence on Wednesday, followed by Eric Trump on Thursday, Donald Trump on Monday and Ivanka Trump on the following Wednesday.

This collectively places the Trump Organization in a dangerous place, federal attorney Colleen Kerwick told Newsweek. ]

Pundits are at odds over how the Trump siblings will come across, some saying there will be plenty of "I do not recall(s)" in the testimony. Daddy Trump has criticized the subpoenas, claiming the entire mess is a continuation of the "witch hunt" he associates with everything the government throws at him.

We'll see.

Trial testimony tends to go smoothly or off the rails.

All three - Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric - Trumps worked high-level positions for the company, all had access to its doings, and all benefitted from its business dealings.

Penalty amounts listed in recent news reports have it that the Trump Organization could be fined some $250 million, although that amount is subject to being increased by Judge Engoron...

-30-

TACO TUESDAY:.......In This Next Episode...Over Men And Horses, Hoops And Garters, Lastly Through A Hogshead Of Real Fire!...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Adela Garza has her fans. Take it to her and see some of Brownsville's better-known residents light into you like trailer park fleas on an aging Anglo. She's that freakin' popular, that respected. The smiling gent in the photo with her above is celebrated Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez. Go ahead and pick a fight with her, Rube.

And good luck.

As local white-bread bloggers Jerry McHale and Jimmy "Blah, Blah" Barton discovered when they went after Texas Southmost College here recently, Ms. Garza, chair of the TSC Board of Trustees, does not even have to say one word to shut them up. It just happens.

Hear anymore from the quieted bloggers?

Of course not. They hit town like the first bowel movement after Thanksgiving and haven't been heard from since. So much for that TSC welding program scandal they promised but never wrapped-up. Loud and fat-sausaged, they posted story after story after story of what they perceived as firing material that went right up to the school president. None of it stuck. McHale (shown in photo above) and Barton, souls rented to darkness, have since gone away rather flaccidly.

Those who know her say Adela Garza has a disinclination for conflict, but it is not a weakness.

The silly, unarmed bloggers would peter out, was her feeling. Elderly dudes tend to head out for a cold beer hoping for something else, but they always slink home as if trained nursing home residents.

Peter out?

Of course, they did...

-0-

Silly Los Fresnos Mayor Alejandro Flores is up for reelection on November 7th. He is a Brownsville dude, born and educated. Somehow, he found himself in Los Fresnos and in the job of mayor. Flores, shown in photo above, is smalltime to the max, but he has one obsession.

His co-pilot in politics is...God.

At least, that's what visitors to his activity-filled Facebook page get pretty much daily. It's God and God's glory for him all the way. If ever a public servant went all-out unabashedly with his religion, it is Flores.

His bent is rather corny, posts often totally about community-aimed projects for kids and families. We have not heard or come up on any opposition for his campaign, but Los Fresnos is a small town in every sense of the word, there on the highway that takes you to Port Isabel and South Padre Island if you're driving in from the Upper Valley.

Tiny Los Fresnos counts barely 8,000 or so residents, most of them not of the garish variety. Mayor Flores and his flashy style, dress and personal imagery, would lead one to believe he's the mayor of a much larger city.

The word is he's favored to win reelection.

His "look" of metropolitan pizazz seems somewhat overlearned, however...

-0-

How 'bout them fancy-schmancy bus shelters? What - they're not there yet?! Ooopsie-roo. The City of Brownsville promised them, didn't it? I read that somewhere. Was it in the local blogs? Had to be. No one else is screaming Holy Hell about the lack of this basic civic need.

I mean, you judge a city by its bus shelters, right?

Uh, not here. Oh, well. Summer had the shelters front-center, man. Steady reminders for the air-conditioned bureaucrats at City Hall. And still nothing?

Well, no. Rains and cold winds will roll in and city bus riders will face the elements as they always have - without shelter from the storm, as the song says. When you live in a poor community, you endure the struggles with the lack of things. Civilization is here, only not in the realm of bus stop shelters.

Perhaps the next mayoral candidate will reframe the issue, define it differently. You know, say they are needed not for the poor riders but for the entry to that All-America City competition.

You think?...

-0-

Well, they say he buys the Black Shinola by the box. To paint that bushy, worm-like mustache and give himself the Vicente Fernandez look. We speak of Cameron County Sheriff candidate Jesus Rosas Jr, shown with Mrs. Rosas in photo above.

Oh, well. We're told he actually is a very, very qualified dude, able to holster a gun and look the part of lawman, quick with the lingo of law enforcement and just an all-around good guy raised on meat.

We still believe incumbent Sheriff Eric Garza will be reelected in the upcoming next election. It's a hard row to hoe for newcomers challenging the guy with the office. Garza may have his faults, but he does wear the official badge his challengers want. Wears it every day, in fact.

Rosas Jr hangs in second place, behind Garza but comfortably ahead of third pretender Ronnie Saenz.

I dunno. Does Rosas Jr look any more sheriff-like than Sheriff Garza? No. They both look more like district clerks than the second coming of former, 84-year-old Sheriff Omar Lucio, he of the go-along on raids fame.

Rosas Jr seems to still be pushing his campaign via Jerry McHale's "Community Shithouse" blog, which keeps us from saying Rosas Jr has a brain.

Perhaps he'll surprise us - and himself! - by reconsidering the idea of throwing his campaign cash away...

-0-

Border anthropologist Tony Zavaleta, a prominent trustee of Texas Southmost College, is over the recent, public dust-up he had with the aforementioned Blogger McHale, the 73-year-old clodhopper behind the recent went-nowhere attack on TSC's welding program.

We asked Dr. Zavaleta for comment to elderly McHale's feverish preoccupation with local welders, but Dr. Z asked to be let-off the controversy, citing a desire to ignore the sloppy blogger, this after saying that he'd never, ever speak to McHale again. As we reported earlier, the clash ended a 47-year friendship between the two. 

Mutual pal Ben Neece, the highly-regarded former municipal judge and city commissioner, did tell The McAllen Sun that he'd spoken to the self-aggrandizing blogger and that the pompous blogger had told him he'd be laying off Dr. Zavaleta but remain as TSC's primo archenemy.

Neece may be the one to smooth things out between these two once-tight amigos.

Who knows, however. McHale's attentiveness to the welding story has been like the savoring of a cannibal. What is that they say about an unwearying old goat:

"His teeth are loose, but he still wants sex"...

-0-

Have they sold her a bum deal? What a cruel thing to do to a woman out on her first political campaign as a brand-new Republican! Laura E. Cisneros (shown in kinda old photo above) is her name and the 34th Congressional District brawl is her game.

She seems to have bought into Blogger Jerry McHale's promise that his blog will see her to victory.

What a crock!

McHale had her leading favorite Mayra Flores in a poll taken by something he calls STIJA, which does not exist and is nothing more than McHale lying one more time. No one is actually polled; McHale simply comes up with fake numbers to support his commentary.

That Dr. Laura E. Cisneros is paying for this is the season's laugher. Someone hand her a primer on McHale's history of posturing paying politicians as something they often are not. Ms. Cisneros was a Democrat up until last November, fer Chrissakes!

But it could just be that hers is a Vanity Campaign, one for the family scrapbook and not for actual accomplishment or winning results.

Sad...

-0-        

Yeah, whatever became of schoolteacher Julie Olvera, shown in photo above. The year was 2015 and she was busy helping boyfriend and City Commissioner Ricardo "Rick" Longoria with is reelection campaign.

I'd been writing about the election and befriended Julie along the way. Things between them seemed lovely, as in romance on the go, kissing & hugging, that stuff. Both were for BISD as teachers. One day, Julie headed for Rick's house in Southmost sort of unannounced and, when walking into the house, found Rick busy loving some other Babe, in the sack.

Julie was not amused. In fact, she was angered, shocked but damned angered.

The story here was Rick's unknown dilly-dallying, at least unknown to Julie. Suffice it to say that there was a quick split and, suddenly, Julie had a whole lot of free time in her hands. We would talk on the phone, which developed as I began to fill the breakup puzzle piece by piece as I covered Rick's campaign. I did invite her to dine with me in McAllen, and she drove over in her pickup.

I was driving my Audi TT sports car at the time, so we met at a Starbucks on N. 10th Street and then rode in my car to Mambo's a seafood restaurant on the city's West Side. We scarfed on the great seafood and talked at length about Rick and his escapades, most of it graphic and way off the political campaign. Photos surfaced of Rick naked and wielding a Jedi sword, some used in stories published by Brownsville's bloggers.

She was hurt, yes. But Julie also had decided to push Rick out of her life.

The last I heard, sweet Julie had moved to Michigan and was back teaching. She sent me a note once to my Facebook page saying she'd met a guy up there. I didn't chase that one.

So, who knows? She may be well-married and have a few kids by now.

Life is funny that way...

-0-

Is he going for it again? Does once-supportive Blogger Juan Montoya know anything? We speak of 2020 sheriff candidate John Chambers, the Republican who was beaten by current Sheriff Eric Garza in a close, but not that close race.

There's not been a peep from Chambers.

Opportunistic Montoya did take his side (for cash, eh?) and posted numerous articles pushing his campaign and torpedoing Garza's. The backing struck some people odd, in that Montoya (shown in photo below, at left) could be said to be a die-hard Democrat. And his disdain for Garza has continued over the past three years, leading me to conclude that Monty will again back Chambers if Chambers brings his big, fat wallet around.

Hey, business is business, ese.

We'd like to see Chambers again in the contest. Two other candidates have announced, but neither has the sort of punching bag persona that Chambers brings to politics. He's a cowboy, too, though, which is a big downer for us. Chambers vs. Garza. Fifteen rounds of boxing.

Both have the sort of Bummer Charisma that makes for interesting Journalism.

Am I enjoying myself yet?...

-0-

     

This is still the Main Event for the 34th Congressional District seat. Democrat and incumbent Vicente Gonzalez vs. Republican Mayra Flores.

Brownsville bloggers are pushing nobodies (Laura E. Cisneros, Greg Kunkle and Mauro Garza) in the Republican Primary, but those bloggers are just spreading free general garrulity. Yeah, why not a few laughs?

Gonzalez has the backing of the national party on his side and Flores hers on the right.

That's the next Battle of Palo Alto, Baby. Any other possibility is airborne shit. The bloggers know it, camps for Vinsanity Gonzalez and Frau Flores have known it. Yeah, there's Blogger Jerry McHale telling those arriving at his blog that greenhorn Laura E. Cisneros is leading All-Pro Flores in early polling. Ha ha ha.

That's Jerry, his bald pate allowing wrinkles of insincere surprise to travel all the way to the back of his head. To do its job, a good joke has to circle the skull's inner walls. I mean, if McHale had a dog its name would be "Scram." With one of these (!), for the correct effect.

We do expect Laura E. Cisneros to switch to the Independent Party minutes after she finishes last in the upcoming party primary.

We can already see her typing her announcement notes: "To Whom -"

-0-

Minor league Blogger Jimmy "Blah, Blah" Barton is fast coming off his woeful performance in the now-forgotten TSC Welding Recital and back to pushing his boring Laundromat Bulletin Board blog. That's Jimmy in photo above with wife, Nenny, pre-2018.

Who knows why this guy thinks he's a credible newsman. Must be some lost self-esteem thing. He moved to Brownsville back when he was of draft age but never served in the military. To her great credit, Nenny did an Army stint, however.

Anyway, we monitor Jimmy's silliness only because, well, he can be hilarious with his bad grammar, skewed angles to serious news stories and the sort of stolen journalism valor brashness that always makes us laugh. He never went to college. By his own admission, his life has been one of working at grocery stores, at motels and at unloading shrimp boats at the Port of Brownsville.

Indeed, his morning story today is about recalling ordering food for his motel guests back in the 1960s from a long-gone restaurant.

Yeah, real "investigative" stuff.

Heh heh...

-0-

Finally, how are those Fish Tacos in Brownsville anyway? Do they pass prime seafood muster? I mean where can you get some that'll satisfy the taste?

We do like the ones served at two-three restaurants in McAllen, but, well, Brownsville's closer to the Gulf of Mexico, so we figure it ought to be somewhat better.

But is it?

We don't see much about Brownsville's restaurants in the Brownsville press. Bloggers don't seem to be into restaurant reviews. They should. Readers also eat, boys.

Oh, well. Perhaps we'll drop by some eatery and check out the local grub.

Who can ever forget lunch at noisy, busy-busy Leonardo's on Central Boulevard back in the day?...

-0-

Taco Tuesday out...

-30-

HALLOWEEN:...Tired Of Playing The Game..."Great Pumpkin" Lashes Out...

 

STAFF REPORT

McALLEN, Texas | It's been coming for years. As they say in fading love and old leather shoes, things have a nasty habit of catching up with reality. Love dies; shoes rot.

The pumpkin is tired of being carved up for cheap, not-even ghastly Halloween jokes. Take your knife to your own face.

"I was born for pumpkin pie, not for scaring anyone. The bullshit is over."

And so, humans began looking at the watermelon.

They knew they could always paint it orange and keep carving...

-30-    

SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Evangeline"...

OLD MAN WINTER:...Rio Grande Valley Temperatures Dip...Rare Mid-40s In The City Of Palms...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | A nice, crisp 45 degrees this morning at 8:00 AM. We won't get out of the blustery 50s today and tomorrow brings low-40s temperature readings all day for The City of Palms.

A cold, wild wind will blow.

Such a pleasant change after five long months of scorching Texas heat. It does feel good. Weatherboys have us at these cool temps through the rest of the week, with some low-80s daytime for the next one.

It's not quite Boston or New York, but we'll take it.

Somehow, morning coffee at the restaurant will taste and go down better today. We're outbound in a few minutes to rendezvous with some pals for breakfast and good conversation. Man, it has been one brutal Summer, as they say about June-Through-October around here. Subtropical, my ass. It was downright African, the large H-E-B parking lot surely a section of the Sahara Desert.

But we persevered, and, yeah, here we are...looking for that black, all-cotton Banana Republic sweater that serves as my uniform when the temperatures dip.

Enjoy the change.

It's one of life's annual treats...  

-30-

[EDITOR'S NOTE:...That's Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda with her coffee in photo above. She does market her city's downtown businesses...]

WAR:...Are Americans Okay With Outright Destruction Of Palestine?...Israeli Invasion Has Only One Purpose...Killing...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Does any country really care whether Palestine lives or dies? No, there does not seem to be much - if any - sympathy for residents of the war-torn Gaza Strip currently under massive assault from Israel.

A reason is the violent attack by Hamas terrorists on Israeli settlers three weeks ago, when Israel was caught off-guard. Its assault is part-revenge, yes. The other part is a bit more complicated.

But the United States is right there with Israel and no other western country has lifted a voice or finger to save Palestine. At least, not yet. Perhaps once the Gaza is nothing more than a pock-marked geography rendered useless by American-supplied bombs, or when the number of dead crosses the million mark, which would be most of Palestine's population.

Here, the war is being framed as between Israel and Hamas, only non-Hamas Palestinians are also being murdered without a second thought.

As could be expected, President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel to not do the unthinkable and start killing Palestinians at will in its ongoing military invasion. The gung-ho Israelis are not listening.

Troops are marching in to kill, and massive bombs are falling.

Will we be okay with Palestine's obliteration?

Is this how we hope to finally find peace in the ragged Middle East? Or are we just feeding the anti-West monster still there, still waiting for that one moment to light the entire region on fire? Terrorists are everywhere these days. The U.S. just bombed spots in Libya to protect our soldiers assigned to that beaten country. It's a bonfire just waiting to happen.

Israel can live with Palestinian children being murdered. That's who Israel is, a country fed up with being attacked by its neighbor, with living as if a hunted animal, with simply being Israel - the country we all know as America's aircraft carrier in the region, a loyal ally who will do our bidding in the region for an annual contribution of $3.1 billion in foreign aid. But only to a certain point.

Israel is not listening to the U.S. on this one.

It is hellbent on ending the strife it has known and dished out for almost seven decades, since it gained statehood in 1948. Jews will tell you they have taken it for all those years, and they are damned sick and tired of it. Palestine also says pretty much the same thing from its perspective about relations with its skittish neighbor. The solution, they seem to scream every so often, is for one or the other to be destroyed.

Revenge is revenge and we all understand that emotion. Hamas must be taught a lesson and if it means the end of Hamas, well, we're fine with it.

Only, don't expect all-out, no-questions-asked support from non-Jewish Americans. Unconditional sympathy on this matter does not live here. A country simply cannot be allowed to overwhelm and destroy another just because it has the most powerful weapons available. The U.S. put a stop to that thinking when it invaded Iraq after Iraq invaded Kuwait in the early 1990s.

As always, all we can say is, "Well, we'll see." We'll see how things go as we head into the end of the first month of a horrible war. The hate is real. For sure. Both sides in this fiery fray hate each other with an unbridled passion, so any expectation that it will end with a smile and a handshake is fantasy.

Palestinians will again be bombed and killed today.

And, apparently, we'll be okay with it...

-30-

REPUBLICANS:...Mike Pence Out Of Presidential Race...He Never Really Got Going, In Fact...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | He's out. Former Vice President Mike Pence threw in the towel on Saturday, saying his campaign for president is over. The 64-year-old Indianan was fast running out of campaign cash and support from his Republican Party.

This excerpt from axios.com: [ Pence announced hat he is ending his 2024 presidential campaign. The announcement comes after the former vice president struggled to gain traction in the crowded Republican primary, and less than two weeks before the third GOP debate.

Pence announced that he was suspending his campaign at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual gathering in Las Vegas.

"It's become clear to me, this is not my time," Pence said in a speech. "So after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today."

"I'm leaving this campaign, but let me promise you, I will never leave the fight for conservative values and I will never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land." ]

Traditional conservative values, however, went out the window when Donald J. Trump walked into national politics in 2015. It's been a wild carnival ride for old school Republicans like Pence.

He's held on to the ever-plunging roller coaster, but he gets off it with little to show...

-30-

WEATHER:...Them Long-Awaited Cool Temps Almost Here...Low-60s On Monday ...We're Thinking Road Trip...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Perhaps it's time to head up Fort Worth way for the weekend rodeo over at the fabled Stockyards. That's exactly where the photo above of yours truly was taken pre-Covid-19.

I hear boisterous Cowtown is back in stir, crowds and brats mobbing the city's North Side.

Again, I've fought the good fight against our always warm subtropical climate down here in the Rio Grande Valley, and, sure, it's nice to go out the front door and feel the cold, wild wind slap you on the face. But who knows if I'll hang around one more year. I said that - what? - three years ago.

The thing is the temps here are beyond great between December and late-April. They just are, and it always makes you believe the Texas Summer Scorch is not as hellish as it is.

But of course, it is.

Still, the weatherboys are saying our temps will drop into the low-60s daytime on Monday, with overnight lows in the upper-40s...and stay nice into the first week of November.

Yeah, make your reservations at your favorite restaurants...

-30-

TRIALS:...Ivanka Trump To Testify...NY Judge Orders Her To Appear At Father's Fraud Trial...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...She's all of 41 years old, so she knows right from wrong. That's the court's motivation in ordering Ivanka Trump to testify in that fraud trail that's ensnared her father, Donald Trump. This comes after she was dismissed from the original case, and that's likely because the district attorney gave her a sweet deal in exchange for her testimony.

The rest of the Trump family is on trial.

This excerpt from axios.com: [ A New York judge on Friday ordered Trump's daughter, Ivanka, to testify in his ongoing civil fraud trial. The ruling means that Ivanka Trump will likely have to take the stand and give testimony about members of her family and their business empire.

Judge Arthur Engoron denied a request to quash the subpoena for her to testify, but said that she would not be called to the stand before Nov. 1 to allow her time to appeal the decision.

Ivanka Trump in June was dismissed from the $250 million lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against Trump, her brothers and the Trump Organization.

A New York appeals court said that James' claims against Ivanka Trump were outdated because she left the Trump Organization to join her father in the White House in 2017.

However, James still sought Ivanka Trump's testimony, arguing that "she indisputably has personal knowledge of facts relevant to the claims against the remaining individual and entity Defendants," per NBC.

". . .Ms. Trump remains financially and professionally intertwined with the Trump Organization and other Defendants and can be called as a person still under their control," the AG contended in a court filing," James wrote in a court filing. ]

It'll be interesting to see her take the witness stand in court, and especially if Donald decides to attend on the day(s) she testifies, like he did when former "fixer" lawyer Michael Cohen testified earlier this week.

The trial is really about how much it will cost Donald Trump to make monetary amends with the State of New York, as he has already been found guilty of committing fraud by exaggerating the value of his properties for bank loans and lowering them for taxing purposes.

A report in Friday's New York Times had it that Ivanka and her two brothers, Don Jr and Eric, are now scheduled to testify next week.

The trial is expected to wrap-up in early-December...

-30-

ISSUES:...Really, The Only Story That Matters...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas |...Climate change in this country is either a threatening pair of words or two to be laughed at, depending on how you feel about the planet's weather. They say it is getting hotter, only it has always been hot, at least for humans, since the end of the Ice Age, when the turtleneck was invented.

I dunno how I feel about this one as a national issue.

We're not burning anytime soon, although likely soon enough. The fearmongering is very much like fast-spreading neighborhood news of the occasional barren shelf at the grocery store. Some say that is a sign of the coming apocalypse. Weather where I live is subtropical.

It was 91 degrees today, here a week before winter's November. No climate change there, simply the historical climate of the region.

But of course, it's true that we should pay a bit more attention to what we as humans contribute to our climes. How many vehicles on Earth, most of the emitting carbon gases? Some four or five billion.

Plus, there is a whole cornucopia of other villains, from powerful, high-flying airliners, to huge sugar cane field burnings, to electricity-supplying power stations to - how many? - BBQ grills across the country, especially Texas.

Scientists and climate-conscious people can list you many, many more villains, but you get my drift. Horrible national politics and worse-than that politicians come and go.

Same went for the gas-guzzling V-8 cars of the 1960s.

Our fragile weather, however, isn't something to control. It'll kick our ass one of these days, perhaps forever...

-30-