Saturday, January 20, 2024

IT WAS YOU, DONALD:... ...Fiery Republican Blames Trump For Ongoing Border Strife...Cong. Chip Roy Not Mincing Words...He Won't Tour Mexican Border For Useless Photo OP...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Well, hey, he said it. We speak this cold Saturday morning of U.S. Rep. Chip Roy and his stance on the mess that is the current Mexican Border. Roy is U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's former chief-of-staff and an outspoken dude. He represents the 21st Congressional District, land that includes most of San Antonio and a chunk of Austin.

Earlier this year, when House Speaker Mike Johnson flew into Texas to tour the Mexican Border (Eagle Pass) with a handful of publicity-hungry Congressional Republicans, Roy opted out.

The 51-year-old native of Maryland said he wasn't going to waste his time with a useless political stunt.

This from rawstory.com: [ An ultra-conservative member of the House Republican majority is laying blame for the surge of immigrants at the Southern border not at the feet of President Joe Biden, but on his fellow Republicans - namely, former President Donald Trump.

During a recent interview with Fox Business News, Roy, who sits on the far-right House Freedom Caucus, took his party to task for failing to take decisive action on the border while they were in power.

"I would acknowledge President Trump failed along with Republicans Paul Ryan and the guys, they failed in 2018 to actually move a border security bill to tighten this so we aren't dealing with this crisis right now," Roy said. ]

Yes, I know. This is the part of the story where I write the Mexican border is no different today than it was 10 years ago. Twenty years ago. Seemingly even longer than that. The U.S., as we keep saying, is an immigrant country that draws immigrants - not always in a legal manner, but it draws them.

Lately, it has been thousands, according to news reports. Most are coming from Honduras and South America - all claiming asylum for Hell-like existences back home. You offer Disneyworld to the world, and the world will come.

Roy's outburst is certainly a rare one inside Republican circles.

He's unique in that he's taking the "real" position, however, and not simply going through the road-tired motions of coming to the border, exclaiming wild observations of lawlessness and disgust and then going back home.

It is, as they say about Sprite in the middle of summer, refreshing...

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Friday, January 19, 2024

BORDER BATTLE:...No Deal On Migrant Surge...D. Trump Says It Would Help Democrat Joe Biden...Republican Texas In Fight...Hell-o, Walls...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...No, don't look for the border invasion story to die-off anytime soon. It's too good of an issue for both the Republican and Democratic parties - like in we're not going to solve it in Congress if the other side gets the glory.

Of such unrefined shit are we made these days, boys.

Congress - and President Joe Biden - are negotiating a solution (can there ever be one, really?), but standing in the way is the same old troublemaker: Donald J. Trump.

This from thehill.com: [ Trump is taking on Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his leadership team by calling on Republican lawmakers to reject a compromise on border security.

The runaway front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination is also setting up a crucial battle over both his party’s future and Ukraine, as precious aid to that country is tied to the border deal along with help for Israel and the Indo-Pacific.

Trump has said Republicans should say "no" to any deal that falls short of "everything needed" to stop the flow of migrants, a message that pointedly puts pressure on new Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to walk the line. Johnson has been under pressure from the Senate GOP and the White House to agree to an emerging Senate deal. ]

At the rotten heart of Trump's bellyaching is his belief that bringing forth some solution to the Border Battle would help Biden against him in the November election.

That's the bottom line for his opposition.

Unfortunately, Trump has the ear of pretty much every Republican in Congress these days. All are siding by him as he leads in the current race for the party's presidential nomination - even as he is hilariously mired in court battles that include his ongoing defamation trial connected to his rape conviction of the magazine writer E. Jean Carroll.

Poor used and abused Mexican border.

It is the latest hot potato in our star-crossed political picnic basket - one that likely has no winning solution, this because the border has always been this border and, well, we do need people who will do hard labor jobs.

A mirage of a solution now would indeed help Biden.

Trump is right. He wants to solve the largely-manufactured crisis. He wants the credit; that's all.

Not that he gives a shit about the border itself. You know it and I know it...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...There is a skirmish of sorts in Eagle Pass that has Texas and the federal government at each other's ass. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has taken over a riverfront city park and is not allowing agents of the U.S. Border Patrol access to the fenced grounds. The Biden Administration has taken Republican Abbott to court...]

Thursday, January 18, 2024

NEW HAMPSHIRE:...Kinda Better For Haley...Trump May See Drop In Cult Love...Ron DeSantis All But Done...Those Independents Are Here...

 



By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It's a much better brawl for Nikki Haley in the ongoing Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination roll. New Hampshire holds its primary vote next Tuesday. She's sort of expected to do better than that 3rd-place finish in Iowa, where Donald Trump took the bouquet and third pretender Ron DeSantis eked out a 2nd-place finish.

New Hampshire is not Iowa.

This is like land of Harvard versus outs of Oklahoma - no comparison in the citizen brainpower. Expect headier, more-coherent commentary coming from New Hampshire voters. It is, after all, directly north of Massachusetts, home of 42 colleges and universities.

Those Trump piggies in Iowa are fading in the rear-view mirror, left to tend to their shitty rural dreams and schemes, to nag on the ever-fattening wife, to remember they sorta counted for a brief, shining moment.

This from newsweek.com: [ If New Hampshire's upcoming primary is anything other than a blowout for Trump, experts say his White House aspirations will become less convincing. Discerning independent voters are crucial in New Hampshire, with the state's open primary system allowing them to cast a ballot for candidates in either party.

Theoretically, if every registered independent in New Hampshire voted for Haley and all registered Republicans voted for Trump, Haley would still win.

"Independents make up a larger share in New Hampshire, so relative to other candidates - not named Trump - Haley should do well and try and drive a narrative that's it's a two-person race," Republican strategist Alex Patton told Newsweek.

Haley is expected to perform well in New Hampshire, with polls showing her doing better than Trump among independents. Republican strategist Patton agreed that Haley's strength is with independents but stressed that "turnout will really matter," as independents often poll better ahead of an election. Two GOP debates were scheduled on Thursday and Saturday, but both have been canceled after Haley refused to participate without Trump’s participation, who hasn’t appeared in a single 2024 debate. ]

Hang on for this ride. Iowa's off-kilter hay wagon was a smoothie; New Hampshire's maple-lugging wagons will offer a wilder roll. If you want a daily read, check out the Manchester Union Leader newspaper online. It goes all out on its elections.

The arrival of the "independent" voter was expected after dumbed-down Iowa, where Trump held sway as if an envoy from The Vatican. New Hampshire's residents are more from the free-thinker parking lot, although Republicans do have an "in," as do, however, the Democrats.

This vote will also see Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drop out. He is factored in as a 3rd-place finisher, and that would be fatal going into the South Carolina primary - Nikki Haley's home state.

Fate and fortune are not all that kind for emerging national politicians.

For stumbling DeSantis, both will be bummers.

Trump will be humbled a bit by New Hampshire. Haley will emerge as the Queen of The Potomac.

For how long...would be the question...

-30-

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

DEAD:...The Grand Old Party Has Died...MAGA Republicans Want Their America...Trump Killed A Political Party...Will It Happen In 2024?...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The Republican Party is no more. It has been butchered, disemboweled by the man seen in photo above. His is a well-known name. Members of his party likely know him as some sort of savior; the rest of the country sees him as a murderer, of sorts.

We are more than tempted to use a line from that Sir Walter Scott poem..."Breathes there a man with soul so dead". The words fit, is what we would say. Donald J. Trump has killed the Republican Party. It is now his own, property to be used and abused, as is his usual wont.

And, sadly, there is no funeral dirge to play about here.

But, boys, the Grand Olde Party is dead. What you see now from those Americans is a Hell's Angels gang of societal miscreants out to destroyer the country. There will be no more ifs, and or buts. The plan is being executed.

Multiple legal problems that include four criminal cases has not - and did not - stop Trump's march to the sea. Coast-to-coast terror, some of it arriving in calm ways and means (school vouchers), is at play, and no one seems to want to stand in the way. Republicans, we mean.

Well, those Republicans who are not quite onboard with Trump's MAGA are folks without a party. They are the kids in high school who bowed to the popular jocks and brainiacs. They have been spayed. Don't look for them at Trump rallies, but also do not look for them blocking his path.

Non-MAGA Republicans are taking the year off.

Do not bother them with press interviews or seek them out in the Letters-To-The-Editor section of your hometown newspaper. They are willfully standing down. They are not even lashing out at the liberal press to say, "Show me the evidence!"

They, too, have seen the evidence of hate, of unrest and of total manifest destruction. Republicans with any sort of power aren't even bothering with their non-MAGA brethren. Every team has its second-string scrubs, its practice squad. This game is not for the weak who won't speak.

Political parties have died in this country. That, too, is our history. Who remembers the Whigs, and, more-recently, the Reform Party of the early 1990s? It happens. People get scared and they act on their fears. Poisoning of the country's citizen blood is only the latest reason for today's Trump Republicans.

Our immigrant country's blood was "poisoned' a long, long time ago. But it's an excitable buzzword quickly latched on by those seeking any reason to raise Hell. Earlier, it had been fear of placing young White students with Blacks and Browns. That came and went, however, the courts ruling there was such a thing as equal citizenship for all. Anger was simply pocketed away for the next fight.

Ethnicity is Prime Time stuff with the MAGA Republicans.

That is a story that has seen the light in brief snippets buried in larger-issue news reports. But it's central to the rage & ruin playing across the country these days. The banning of books to limit readings on slavery, for example. A major presidential candidate (MAGA Republican Nikki Haley) believing you can ever distance yourself from that horrible time in America. The frontrunner for the 2024 nomination (Trump) demonizing immigration if it's not from Norway.

We could go on.

It's safe to say, however, that the United States is no longer united. It's Red States versus Blue States now. I'm with these guys; you're with them. Only, it is not a game. It is dead-serious stuff for the MAGA crowd, their allegiance openly going to Trump and not to the country.

They could not care less about unity. Not these days. MAGA Republicans fully believe God is on their side and that Trump is the fabled "Chosen One". 

Democrats and the rest of the population are to be damned. God is not with Democrats, say, no, scream, these Republicans. Damnations flow daily, against societal norms and against opposing politicians. America is on the rag.

Bang the drum slowly...one more time...

-30-

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

IOWA:...Trump Wins Caucus Vote...Pig State's Whites Rally For Racism And Hate...Hitler Would Have Killed It In Iowa Yesterday...Achtung, Baby...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...One down and a string of them to go. Party primaries, we mean. Iowa was here yesterday, and the Republican vote went as expected for oft-indicted Donald J. Trump, who easily whipped candidates Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis in the state's caucuses.

Or, as one wag put it, Hitler would have won Iowa last night.

As many have said, the corn-fed Midwestern state is an unfair and unlikely maker/breaker for national candidates, if only because its population does not in any way mirror the rest of the country. You're White? Yeah, you want to compete in Iowa, a state where the Anglo population is not all that big (3 million, or so) and 90% of it is White.

Go ahead and throw the ethnic slurs and damn immigration from the south all you want. Cheers and votes are what you'll get.

Crazed Trump won the Iowa Caucus. DeSantis finished second and Haley a close third. That's the math, although numbers had Trump in the low-50s percentagewise, with DeSantis coming it at low 20%, Haley close behind him.

It's on to New Hampshire for the Lousy Three, this election cycle's version of the Clown Show.

America deserves a better kickoff election.

Iowa is not representative by a long shot. Plus, this is big: The winner of the Iowa Caucus rarely wins the General Election. Yes, it's part of what we here call the horse race journalism breeds and needs. The news media got blamed for calling last night's caucus race early for Trump.

Not a louder bitch about that came than that from DeSantis.

He trailed and railed, but few were listening. Reporters wrote that story, but it was one of hundreds written overnight. Early or not, DeSantis was toast.

Trump, meanwhile, is scheduled to attend his defamation trial in New York this week, the one brought on by the woman he raped (that was a court verdict) and who wants him to pay up. The court, as with his New York fraud trial, will decide how much he will have to pay.

But does he care? Likely not one whit.

Trump has his low-class supporters contributing weekly and doing it to pay his mountain of legal bills.

That, too, is America.

So, as the Aryan sweetheart asked: Would Hitler have won Iowa?

In a landslide, darlin'...

-30-

Monday, January 15, 2024

A DOG TOOK MY PLACE: ...No Future In Iowa...Trump Wins...Nikki Rocks A Thick Coat...Ron DeSantis Freezes To Death...Corn-Holed...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Yeah, look for some corn-fattened Iowan to tell reporters he walked miles to get to his caucus and cast his vote for Donald J, Trump. I know. He'll say it even as we know these caucuses are largely neighborhood affairs.

Hey, we live in the Era of The Big Lie.

Suddenly, we are a video game being manipulated by some punk in the far outs of the dark universe.

But today is Red Monday, day of the Iowa Caucus - the day America begins its jellied rollout of the 2024 presidential election. Look out, Des Moines. Is photographer Robert Kincaid still messing with that farmer's bored wife over in bridge-happy Madison County?

That's what I want to know. Francesca had the nicest, roundest ass, yes.

Phase One, in which Ron DeSantis gets his ass kicked. The Republican Florida governor has under-performed and will under-achieve after the vote is counted. He's gone. That once-promising shot at The White House ended up being a lame-ass cannonball that rolled of the cannon and fell harmlessly to the ground. Ron, we hardly knew ye.

And that's a good thing, 'cause his high-necked wife, Casey, was too rural and uppity to be any sort of needed role model for American gals as First Lady. Flighty Casey has struck out.

Onward through the thick fog will go Ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, there a few steps behind the aforementioned Trump. Both will head for New Hampshire, another mostly Whites state, for the second round of voting. Blacks and Browns are not in this game, not yet. Whites must get their duckies in order, in order to win the game in the end.

Let the Blacks and Browns in the voting booth already.

This voting thing is rigged (see sentence above).

But weep not for ever-annoying DeSantis. He came on as a Big Shit at 5'6" tall, got himself some boots with elevated heels and walked about campaign stages as if some Festus of the old Gunsmoke TV show. Ron, you were pathetic, dude. Casey's high heel shoes would have served you better, gotten you to 5'9" at least.

The weather is bad in Iowa. That's what the weatherboys and video and photos are telling us this fine, fine South Texas morning. Still, Iowans are again being labeled as tough-as-frozen-pig-shit Midwesterners used to the cold and the snow and the ice. And the fat gut & bad teeth, but that's a story for another day.

Trump will take the winner's blue ribbon today. He'll gush excitedly, tell Americans Americans are in for better days with better blood and then leave Iowa, never to fucking return. It's his style. Use and abuse, Baby.

Nikki Haley can only hope Fatboy Trump dies on the campaign trail.

Sort of like Ron DeSantis died...

-30-

Sunday, January 14, 2024

SEXTING LADY LIBERTY:... Republicans Out To Burn The House Down...It's Trump Or No One, They Say...Really...It's Out There...Fuck!...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...There is no longer the time or inclination to believe this is all a bad dream, a ridiculous idea or a plot to kill Democracy. It is being butchered right before your eyes, America. Lady Liberty has been ordered to her knees and Republicans have reached angrily for her hair.

This will not end nicely.

News reports and political pundits have been busy writing-up the continuing mess that is the Donald J. Trump presidential campaign, this multi-screen drama featuring torrid lingo and court action no American will say is normal.

No one's openly putting an end to it. And Trump, his "people" and his party are hellbent on keeping to the plan that has him promising a strongman dictatorship and more, as McDonald's might say. Little is up for analysis or discussion anymore. Trump is playing the worst cards at his disposal, from racism to seeing the U.S. Army on American streets.

These, we should add, are the so-called MAGA Republicans, the fighting arm of the Grand Old Party. Traditional Republicans, however, are staying silent and out of the political fray. They have been neutered by Trump and his followers. Few say anything.

Fear is palpable. Fear is eating at your air-conditioned skin, America.

And there, there, boys, is Lady Liberty, your once-protected, once-hallowed schoolmarm now the porn-postured sexual attraction for MAGA Republicans who want her all to themselves. Blacks don't deserve her. Neither do Browns. Lady Liberty is for White people.

Let the unrest begin. There is only fear to fear. 

For until it starts, it cannot be dealt with or resolved. Bring it.

It begins tomorrow, a frozen Monday, with the Iowa Caucus, regional voting preferences eventually dealing the angst's meaningful blows. Vote as if your wife's life depended on it, boys. Sparks always come in small sizes, yet they, like Yuppies of old, are upwardly mobile. Boom-shaka-laka! Boom!!!

Yeah, bang the drum slowly...one more time...

-30-

Saturday, January 13, 2024

RINOS:....The Strange And Baffling Life Of A Stupefied Mob Buried Deep Inside The Party Of Hatred...What's The Point?...Why Be Such A Give-Up?...Dance Of The Lambs...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Republicans-In-Name-Only. RINOs, yes. Often smart, thoughtful Americans, but at present Americans caught in a trap. They can't walk out, as Elvis would say about here. In a time of ragged national politics, RINOS are the big mystery.

In name only.

Well, how many of your neighbors are Christians in name only? How many? That many? It's a study waiting to happen. Something, we would think, has to give. Can you be a 2024 Republican and despise everything party leader Donald J. Trump says and stands for, like the racism and the hatred?

It would seem so.

These days, RINOS are, by nature, calm folks. Rarely do they storm out of the house to throw stuff at Democrats. Picture Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sitting in the backyard wooden deck of his old Kentucky home sipping lemonade or talking grandkids.

He's not screaming Democrat damnations or parroting the bigotry of Trump. He's wanting a return to Old School politics, to a time when Republicans and Democrats actually discussed issues and got things done in Congress.

No, what you normally hear from RINOS is something other than turgid criticism of Trump - the pseudo-politician currently strangling the Republican Party. Can you hear the frantic, life-grabbing gasping for air? I can't either.

INOS are taking it up the wazoo and not complaining.  

Even Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire who has been very critical of Trump, and endorsed Nikki Haley, tells Kaitlan Collins of TheBulwark.com, "Yes. I will support him even if he is a convicted felon".

Sununu would be considered a RINO in Florida and in Texas.

Locally, we do have a generous smattering of RINOS. Names are well-known. We won't splash them all here, although McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos comes to mind - as does former Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos - the ex-Texas Secretary of State under Not-RINO Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

There are plenty more hanging tight at home and not saying much. The silence is deafening. The optics are horrible.

Should they say something? Doesn't being a RINO offer you breathing space from the crazed maniacs currently steering your party?

One would think so.

But today's hard-edged politics demand a certain posture from all playing the game. Leaders of the fawning flock like to see their followers bent over...

-30-

Friday, January 12, 2024

IOWA:...Caucus This Coming Monday...Nation's First Stab At 2024 Elections...Not Quite A Primary; More A Load Of Neighborhood Gatherings...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It begins in Pig Country - Iowa. It's not quite a primary but Iowans will caucus on Monday, the 15th, to select their preferred 2024 Republican presidential nominee. The initial vote signals the start of what should be a wild primary season.

Republicans have pretty much settled on oft-indicted Donald J. Trump as their candidate against Democrat incumbent Joe Biden, but the show must go on. Democracy demands fair and honest elections. We're not El Salvador! Ha ha (Yes, we are).

The much-ballyhooed Midwest dog & pony show is nothing more than a neighborhood gathering, with a load of Iowa neighborhoods taking part in the daylong vote.

As Time magazine explains it: [ The process is hallowed but arcane. Here’s an attempt to explain.

What is a caucus?

Merriam-Webster, "America’s Most Trusted Dictionary", defines a caucus thus: "A closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction usually to select candidates or to decide on policy."

David Yepsen, a doyen of Iowa political journalism, boils it down this way: "A caucus – it’s a neighborhood meeting."

And as Tom Beaumont, a reporter for the Associated Press explains, more than 1,600 such meetings will take place on Monday, "one for every precinct in the state".

Either which way, it’s not a primary, the straight-vote contest held by most states, starting in New Hampshire next week. ]

Whatever. Alaska has its weird "rank voting" and Texas its continuing desire to control (read "stifle" into that one) the vote. It's America-At-Play, boys. Time-honored displays of civic duty is what high school teachers are still telling kids, even as we see the entire mess in a slow-motion crumble.

As we noted, Donald Trump is the overwhelming favorite in Iowa, with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki "The Slavery Queen" Haley (shown in photo at left) a distant second and Florida Gov. Ron "Vito" DeSantis in a fading third. Vivek "The Blade" Ramaswamy, the fourth player up to now, has been largely emasculated and will likely drop out of the presidential nomination race after Monday.

Some racial hay was made about mostly white Iowans deciding on MLK Day as the date for their caucus.

Yes, it's a dig, but who cares anymore?

Much of what we thought of America has gone down the drain, as they say in city sewage repair work. And, really, we're not doing anything about it. America is going Full Shithole...and it seems to be okay with you.

Send in the clowns...

-30-

Thursday, January 11, 2024

WAVES:...Red Or Blue?...Both Coming In November...Is It A Toss-up, Or Is The Rio Grande Valley An Eternal Democratic Stronghold?...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...A cold, cold norther is working its way down this far in Texas. Temperatures in the upper 20s by next Monday night, say the weatherboys. A wild wind will blow. It'll be a brief wave, but one that will likely be felt by residents spoiled by the region's subtropical weather.

Later this year, likely by the hot summer months of July and August, another set of waves will weasel in, bringing not hot or cold temps to ruin the family budget but one to sway the palm fronds and shake the political branches.

Red Wave.

Blue Wave.

They're coming. Red Republicans who agonized last election when their much-ballyhooed RED WAVE! petered out north of Raymondville can only dream of a seeing a mighty, high-mountain wind rake across the Rio Grande Valley. Democrats in Blue again steel themselves against the emerging blowback.

The Valley remains a Democratic stronghold. That is not up for discussion. What local Republicans hope for is an energized campaign that, at the very least, sees one of their own win a contest.

Republican Monica De La Cruz, congresswoman representing the 15th Congressional District that includes McAllen and Hidalgo County, is favored to be reelected. The 58-year-old De la Cruz (shown in photo at right) hasn't done anything notable in his first two-year term, but she also has not embarrassed herself in the way of, say, fellow Republicans Lauren "Grope me, Baby!" Boebert of Colorado or Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Trailer Park Punk from Georgia.

De La Cruz is favored.

In sleepy neighboring Cameron County to the east, it is the Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in the 34th Congressional District who is poised to keep his seat, even as rebel-bent Republican opponent Mayra Flores keeps pushing her pro-Donald Trump slime. There are three other, lesser-known Republicans riding the Flores station wagon, only all are backseat losers - Laura E. Cisneros, Mauro Garza and some novice named Kunkle.

Both races will be watched closely by the respective parties.

Neither seat is a maker-breaker for the Democrats, but Republicans hold a slim edge in House of Representative seats. For them, even these two races down here could be crucial, existential even.

Times are changing for the Rio Grande Valley. Where once campaigns went whole hog for Democrats, the arrival of younger candidates not interested in paying their dues for Democratic bigwigs and setting sail as pseudo-Republicans is changing the voting booth dynamic.

Gone are the safe and predictable days of such powerful Democrats in Congress as those enjoyed by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen and U.S. Rep. Eligio "Kika" De La Garza. The years that came after those two left politics (and died, yes) have been a slow slide into what is or will soon be a two-party Rio Grande Valley.

The scoffing has faded.

Republicans are a rising power here these days. Maybe not as powerful as the Democrats but a power in that they, too, can up & surprise on Election Night. Waves will move. It's just how tall they will crest that has Old School Democrats such as Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa wearing the look of sleepless nights on his face.

Politics ages a politician like little else. There is no skin-rejuvenating cream on Amazon. Even 38-year-old Mayra Flores is looking like she just rolled off a turbulent hayride.

There isn't much noise yet, and the Trump Trains that will roll down RGV streets and highways are still stashed in driveways and garages. They will roar as we get closer to the election that will come just before Thanksgiving.

The Valley, it says here, will weather two monster political waves this time around. Both are being set in motion. It is a novelty for many who have not been part of the area's political games, who have been energized by the new drama arriving as if for a carnival or parade.

It is they who will be riding the crest of the winning wave...

-30-

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

DEMOCRATS:...Whipping Out The Campaign Wallet In 2024...Staking A Claim To The Latino Vote...It's All Over The Place...Biden Getting Most Of It; Trump A Share...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It is a group seen as an ethnic bloc. Votes by Hispanics, Latinos, we mean. The political world sees us as a group voice speaking as one, voting as one - forever faithfully rewarding the Democratic Party.

Only, that's so far off reality as to be the equivalent of saying all fish exist and work as one in the big, wide ocean.

Not happening in the seven ponds or in our politics.

Hispanics, also called Latinos in some circles, will turn out and cast their ballots in 2024 primaries and in the November General Election. All for Democrat Joe Biden? Nope. Not even close. But the Big Money is out there to chase it and sweep it toward Democrats. Millions of dollars, in fact.

This from axios.com: [ The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says it's pouring $35 million into a campaign to engage with Black, Latino and Asian American and Pacific Islander voters ahead of this year's elections.

Nationally, Democrats, including President Biden, have slowly been bleeding support among many of these voters.

Hispanic voters specifically played a key role in several tight swing state races in 2022, and as the fastest-growing demographic of voters, their power will be even greater this year.

House Dems say they will spend money on research and polling, paid media, organizing, voter education and protection and battling mis- and disinformation through their P.O.W.E.R. The People campaign, launched Tuesday.

A spokesman says the initial $35 million investment is more than it made in the last election cycle, which was roughly $30 million.

"The DCCC's significant, early investment and focused effort to persuade and mobilize people of color will help us win back the majority so we can continue to deliver for the American people," Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) said in a statement to Axios Latino. ]

Well, Maria, that is a good sign. Dropping big cash on anything to aid the Hispanic vote is always a winner in our book. Get people out to vote. All people. That's how you get Better and more effective Representation.

And, believe it or not, you do have representation. At the highest levels, it's called Congress and the president. Vote or get lost.

That's the game of the year, Baby.

Play it, 'cause everybody else is playing it...

-30-

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

DAYUM:...Florida Republican And Blondie Wife In Sexual Threesome...Not The Wife Tells Cops She Was Raped...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Republicans can be such hypocrites. I mean, in an eye-popping way. Take the evangelical hand they play these days. dealt by God, they will tell you. God chose Donald J. Trump as their leader and, hey, they believe in God. Everything about God.

Never mind Trump's morals failings. He has been convicted of rape in New York. He stands to defend 91 felony charges and is booked for four criminal trials, two in federal court and two in state venues.

Yeah. Cool stories all.

But the one that grabbed our terminal reader's attention is the tawdry tale of Christian Ziegler and his pretty wife, Bridget (shown with Gov. DeSantis in photo below). They are Florida Republicans, he up until last week was the chairman of the state Republican Party; she was a major figure in the right-wing Moms For Liberty effort. Oh, and she was a member of the Sarasota Schoolboard.

Good Americans.

Uh, maybe not. Not if you're going to fly the Christian flag and dance it across our faces, as if to say you're clean and everybody else is dirty.

This from theindependent.com: [ The female complainant had been in a long-term consensual relationship with Ziegler and his wife Bridget, according to the Florida Center for Government Accountability, which was first to report on the story.

Citing police sources, the site stated that the incident occurred when Ziegler and the complainant were at the woman’s home on 2 October without Ms. Ziegler present.

The words "rape" and "had been sexual battered…on 10/02/2023" were among the few words visible on the redacted police report.

Ziegler’s cellphone was seized after police obtained a search warrant, which he reportedly used to film sexual liaisons between the trio. ]

Actually, another report said Ziegler had arrived at the unnamed woman's apartment without his wife for a scheduled tryst. This had led the non-wife to tell horny Ziegler that her interest "had been really in Bridget." Ziegler went ahead and forced himself on her, according to the police report.

No charges have yet been filed, however, which is weird in itself.

Ziegler has been removed as state party chairman and his wife has been ousted from her post with Moms For Liberty, a book-banning outfit (among other Republican-bent silliness).

Big, big fans of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Zieglers nonetheless saw the governor, a candidate for president in 2024, quickly toss them aside.

Sex and politics, or more correctly, sex in politics, tends to derail most politicians. Who can forget Democrat Gary Hart, the Colorado U.S. Senator and his fall from grace in the 1984 presidential race. As for threesomes, well, there was the recent case of Republican Ken Paxton here in Texas last year.

Paxton, the state attorney general, was impeached in the Texas Senate, although ultimately the vote was to not convict him. Like Ziegler, Paxton had a paramour, but Paxton's wife was not involved.

Yes, we can say it happens.

Power does something to people. Political power magnifies it. And, here, we get another fine, fine example of our current political saga, one arriving as if for the collective, as if for the country and as if for a better tomorrow. Yeah, right. Lies and hypocrisy. Again.

The hot & heavy Zieglers will now fade into oblivion...The cold and ruthless Republican Party Machine will roll onward...

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TACO TUESDAY:...No Plate This Week...All Quiet On The Eastern Front...Will Return Next Week...Hey, Shergold...

 


STAFF REPORT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...There will be no Taco Tuesday offering this week. Things have been sort of calm on the always-dramatic eastern shank of the Rio Grande Valley. Recovering residents are breathing easy again after the harried Holiday Season. Politicians are digging for old photographs to paste on campaign signs.

Elderly Bloggers stick to their boring ways. But there was a rather interesting recent photo of district court candidate John Shergold. Those campaign photos. They make you laugh.

See you next week!...

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Monday, January 8, 2024

VEEPS:...Republicans Saddled With Horrible Candidate For President And Even Worse For Vice-President...Uh, Kari Lake, The Arizona Napalm Bomb? ...Bring Back Sexy Palin!...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Once, there was a loudmouth woman named Sarah Palin who broke into national politics with a sarcasm and anger not quite always associated with anyone seeking the American vice-presidency. She was all-that, as the kids like to say today - attractive and, well, the cameras loved her.

Palin was sexy in a way that most other vice-presidents had never been, although, yeah, most of them prior to her time had been men. Harry Truman was one. He said the office of the vice-president was "not worth a bucket of warm piss."

Democrat Joe Biden, the current president, has Kamala Harris, a smart woman.

Republican Donald J. Trump, the frontrunner for his party's 2024 nomination, has a gaggle of Sarah Palin-wannabes - none of the sort you would want at dinner or in church. They are mean, vicious and maybe even cross biology between humans and animals. You never know anymore.

Where will oft-indicted Trump look for his running mate?

Kari Lake - the ever-annoying Arizona napalm bomb? Homely Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former press secretary and now governor of hillbilly Arkansas? Marjorie Taylor Greene, the poster child for Trailer Park depression? Kristi Noem, the South Dakota governor and a woman said to be ready for anything fun if it includes the Trump operative Corey Lewandowski - and not her husband.

Who else, Donald?

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and the one nipping at your nomination heels? Wait on the New Hampshire primary, dude. Ha ha.

Anyone else in the blurry picture?

Uh, we could mention a few dudes for the job, but the word is out that Trump, convicted of rape in New York, wants a female as Veep. Something about making for more-interesting meetings in The White House.

Trump's former Veep, Mike Pence, is off the radar screen on this one, boys.

He was the one afraid to cut the cake, as the song says.

There's always Palin, the Alaskan Iceberg. She's tanned, rested and ready...

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Sunday, January 7, 2024

WOKE:...Black Man Daniel Cameron Is So Straight-Up Woke He Thinks He's Not Black...White Wife Makes Him White?...He's Fighting Diversity In The Workplace ...Models Clarence Thomas...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Last November, Daniel Cameron lost his race for governor of Kentucky to a white candidate, the incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear. A somewhat popular young Black man, Cameron, who had served his state as attorney general, sucked it up, conceded and went looking for another job.

He found one.

Fighting "woke" and Woke People.

The Republican is doing work that largely hurts his African-American community, but perhaps he does not know - or want to know - that he is Black. It happens. Look at Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. He's dark-chocolate black, like Cameron, and he also has a white wife.

Thomas, shown with wife Ginni in color photo below, at right, is a Republican, a "conservative" if we are to use the lexicon of our ever-lying political lingo. Cameron and Thomas are black, and they should be proud of being black - not lackeys for white people who can defend and posture themselves without help from anyone else.

It's a wonderment, yes.

So, does a White wife equal better social status? No, but perhaps it is helpful in national politics. Cameron and Thomas likely think that is so, regardless of any criticism they get.

This about Cameron from theroot.com, a Black news website: [ After losing his race for Kentucky Governor, former Attorney General Daniel Cameron is moving on to the most predictable career pivot possible for a Black conservative. You guessed it - he’s waging a war on wokeness at the 1792 Exchange.

Cameron has been tapped to lead the 1792 Exchange, a non-profit whose incredibly vague mission statement can be summed up as protecting businesses and non-profits from "woke" corporations.

". . .Former Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron has officially joined 1792 Exchange today as CEO to help prevent investment management firms, elected officials, and corporate interests from using other people’s money to advance radical political agendas," wrote the group about his ascension.

None of this is a massive pivot for Cameron or a surprise for anyone following him. After the Supreme Court’s decision to gut affirmative action, Cameron joined a group of Attorneys General threatening Fortune 500 companies that use diversity and inclusivity practices in their workplace. ]

Geez, Louise. For a second there after 1964, we fully believed Blacks and other so-called minorities wanted - and needed - diversity in the workplace to find employment and to get ahead in the hated Rat Race. Is that now passe? Do we finally have equality to the point that Blacks such as Daniel Cameron believe the playing field has been leveled and all are seen as equals?

If only!

Cameron, who married his wife, Makenze in 2020, is an uppity Black nicely settled into a cushy lifestyle. He may have earned his place in society, and, if he did, he should be praised. But working for 1792 Exchange is one Hell of an ethnic give-up for this fool.

He's going to fight wokeness?

My, my. The things a suit & tie make some people do. How much of his current rolling philosophy was shoved into his ear by his white wife is anybody's guess, but it happens in marriages. Ginni Thomas is said to hold total mental sway over Black hubby Clarence.

It's a slice of our multi-ethnic society, yes. We acknowledge that.

But some aspects of that shit is simply laughable. Should we care?

This morning, Daniel Cameron is still Black...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...These days, the largely inoffensive word "woke" means different things to different people, especially to Democrats and Republicans. It used to be known as "Political Correctness"...And there is this from the Internet - "Woke" is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English meaning ". . .alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights...]

Saturday, January 6, 2024

THE FUNNIES:...Rosie Sticks Another Dagger Into Trump's Fat Back...She's Not Goofing Around...Outright Calls Him A Criminal..."Always Has Been"...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Once, there were comedians all over the place criticizing government action and inaction. Biting, sarcastic Lenny Bruce comes to mind. Intellectual George Carlin was another.

Now comes one Rosie O'Donnell, she of television fame.

Rosie was somewhat blown away by a report released Thursday by Democrats in Congress entitled "The White House For Sale." The report told of millions of dollars taken-in by candidate Donald J. Trump while he was president between 2017 and 2020.

This from newsweek.com: [ Hours later, comedian O'Donnell took to her TikTok account, where she briefly addressed the report, and urged her followers to "vote blue" against "criminal" Trump, who is the Republican frontrunner challenging President Joe Biden's bid for a second term.

Addressing the allegations, the A League of Their Own star said in the video: "Is that enough for everybody out there? When's it going to be enough? Does anyone know? Better be soon. The guy's a criminal, start to finish. Always has been, always will be. No way he should be able to run for president - no way. ]

No way, she said.

But is anyone listening? I mean, within the cultish Republican Party, where Trump can do no wrong? He's wearing 91 felonies around his thick neck and has appointments with four criminal court cases. Still, he's untouchable - Above The Law.

What would George Carlin have said about all of this? Bruce?

Both would have bitten into the subject matter all-teeth, dead-on sarcasm and insults cutting to and thru the bone. Bruce, shown in photo above, at right, hit hard on Vietnam and the Lyndon Baines Johnson decision to keep bombing the Southeast Asia country into oblivion. Carlin, shown in photo below, at right, took a more cerebral approach when targeting societal breakdowns and errant, self-serving politicians.

I'm likely missing a comedian or two here, but what followed was largely Jerry Seinfeld-types, comedians who spoke of "observations," but never dealt with our flawed politics. I mean, Louie Anderson? George Lopez? Fluffy Iglesias?

The bombastic New Yorker Andrew Dice Clay had it going for a short while, but he faded as fast as he'd arrived. Redhead Kathy Griffin, shown in photo above, at left, dove into it, but was derailed quickly after posting a photo of a bloodied Trump. She's back, but it's been years since she'd been on stage.

Rosie O'Donnell has stayed with the attack on the Mar-a-Lago Marvel, to the point that an annoyed Trump has tried to shut her down by labeling her a has-been.

But you're only a "has-been" if you stay away.

Rosie's still here...

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Friday, January 5, 2024

BANKING:...Limp Republican Donald Trump Believes He Has An Ace Up His Sleeve...Lawyer Habba Says Justice Kavanaugh Is In On The Plot...Is He?...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...What are Donald J. Trump's chances with the U.S. Supreme Court? He is seeking "presidential immunity" in one case, a return to state ballots in another and likely help with that "election meddling" case in Georgia and his about-to-be-wrapped-up fraud case in New York.

He's in stir, as cowboys say out west.

Help from the nation's high court may or may not be on the way. He's hoping, and his lawyer is practically begging for it. That would be one Alina Habba, for the defense.

This about that on newsweek.com: [ Habba, in her interview with FOX News host Sean Hannity, pointed to her full faith in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom Trump nominated, while discussing the decisions.

"You know people like Kavanaugh – who the president fought for, who the president went through hell to get into place – he’ll step up," she said.

"Those people will step up. Not because they’re pro-Trump but because they’re pro-law. Because they’re pro-fairness and the law on this is very clear." ]

Well, that's called arriving at the weekend Singles Party with high hopes. That Alina is a young whippersnapper, a member of Trump's golf clubs and a chick out for publicity. Her lawyer skills have been placed in doubt, but she's still winging it like some young, female Dershowitz.

Kavanaugh, 58, had his ugh moments during his tense confirmation hearings in 2018, when charges of wild boozing and wilder sexual harassment hit him face-up when taking questions from senators. Is all that about to be brough up again?

Habba may have opened the oven and revealed a burned cake.

Trump is on the hook seriously, and consensus on his fate with the Supreme Court hardly ranges. The feeling is that the court will do what it has to do, Trump be damned. Too much is at stake.

Plus, and this is the kicker the pundits get around to when discussing this topic: Immunity for Trump would equal immunity for President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The possibilities of that would be of astral proportions...beautiful justice, yet earth-shattering...

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Thursday, January 4, 2024

DEMOCRATS:...Huge Fear Of Mayra...Naive Bloggers Posting Cheap Smears...She Knows - "Sometimes, To Get What You Want, You Have To Want It All"...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Politics in the campaign season is smoke & mirrors. Any cub reporter working at a daily newspaper will tell you that. The more sophisticated ones in Big City media know the actual score - campaigns will lie and posture.

It's about winning, isn't it?

We can only smile every time local media goes apoplectic on any one event, uttering or social media posting by a candidate - a candidate of either major party.

That is where we are this morning, as Brownsville bloggers go nuts over a photo used by the Mayra Flores campaign they noted was not very honest. Really, bloggers? Is this it? A tempest in a Gordita Pot? Tell me you have more than ubiquitous political trick photography.

Alas, it is a story that is somewhat playing out across the state, a fact Brownsville ever-hating bloggers bank on for some sort of credibility. It is NOT their reporting; it is appropriated news, which seems to be okay with them.

We at The Sun have our criticisms of Miss Flores, a Republican.

But we grant her space and standing in the contest pitting her against Blogger-loved Democrat Vicente Gonzalez for the 34th Congressional District seat he currently holds. The battle will rage all year, with the voter decision coming in the November General Election. The bloggers say Gonzalez is favored; more-important voters have yet to speak.

Gonzalez has done some good for the expansive South Texas district that includes the border counties but also rolls up the Texas Gulf Coast. He has brought federal money to the Rio Grande Valley, as he is supposed to do for the constituency. Ask Harlingen.

But he is no Mayra Flores in the excitable side of national politics. Vicente Gonzalez is more like the adept utility infielder on a baseball team. Nothing flashy about the guy, just good, steady play. That's what we see in him.

Still, our interest in Mayra Flores is there, if only because she is unpredictable as a thinker. That alone ingratiates her with us, as we want to see more Hispanic voices raising Hell inside the ever-racist Republican Party. So, she's with God, Family & Country. That angers the Democrats?

We repeat: Loud Mayra does have her faults. Many of them are of the novice variety. What she seems to have, however, is staying power. She won a Special Election in 2022 that saw her serve in Congress for six months before Gonzalez beat her by 10,000 votes in the general election of that same year.

But Democrats around her are nothing if not settled fuckers believing they own the geography from here to eternity and anyone challenging that is someone who would - egads!! - rip off a photograph off the Internet and claim it as theirs.

If that is all they have against her (oh, they say she lies), well, good luck with sinking the Bismarck with that peashooter.

Ultimately, we see the current attack on her regarding that family cookout flashed onward by way of stolen photographs off someone else's culinary skills as being totally naive.

The bigger story is her continued strength.

The insipid, amateurish bloggers are not addressing that...

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Brownsville left-wing blogger Juan Montoya is shown in photo at bottom of the post above. He has vehemently opposed Mayra Flores since the day he wrote she never worked the cottonfields, as she had claimed. He has since been joined by Elderly Blogger Jerry McHale, who largely copies Juan's work as a way to "belong"...]

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

IMAGE:...In Today's Politics, It's How You Look, Not How You Feel...Republican Trump Gets Internet Facelift...He's A Very Old 77...

 


By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Getting old is Hell, is what they often say in this youth-oriented country, especially in politics and Hollywood. Looking your age has never been a plus, and going all-bald and wrinkled settles the issue for you.

Old is old.

Candidate Donald Trump has found one way to beat back time. At least in photographs.

The photo you see above is what the Internet says is the real Trump as he looks today. The one below (same photo) shows him with the photoshopped face, in the company of well-wishers at his New Year's Eve party. A younger-looking Trump, yeah.

With a Robert Redford-like touch, we might add.

Political photography, we all know, often takes major leaps backward. Who around here can forget that 30-year-old photo former Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio used in his last campaign four years ago (before he died). Lucio was 84 years old at the time, but his favorite campaign photo spoke to a salt & pepper-haired man in is 50s.


No one cared, really. It seems to be accepted in politics at all levels. Image makers love it. Those political operatives given the task of framing a campaign, of putting forward the candidate in his best light - even removing facial blemishes and age-related bummers such as hefty necks and fattened jowls.

Trump is an old cat. He'll be 78 this year, and that's far down the life's road, as they say in the busy geriatric wards across the country.

Should we care?

It's all part & parcel of the fakery well-entrenched in this country as a whole, is our feeling. It used to be fake butts in women drawing the frowns. Now, a babe flat "down there" can likely get padded panties on Amazon. Sales of facial care for males are booming, if you believe the advertising. No one wants to look their age.

Trump, of course, is a narcissist from way back.

That so-called "orange look" he favors in skin coloring is said to be administered to his face and neck daily by a skilled make-up person. Otherwise, he likely looks like an albino, which probably would be a downer for voters. Orange is okay. Apparently.

The Trump campaign war wagon rolls onward. It is carrying not rifles or gunpowder, but barrels of orange something or another...

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