ABORTION:...Their Tone-Deaf Positions Will Doom Hispanic Republicans Mayra Flores And Monica De La Cruz...It Is Still The Hot Button Issue...Pro-Choice Keeps Winning At The Polls...Women Vs. Women?...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...They don't dare talk about it. We speak of area Republicans in the world of elections and abortion. They simply wish to see such talk go away. It won't. South Texas may still be seen as a Catholic stronghold, but it's never been that in the abortion front.

Mexico being so close always helped.

For years, Abortion clinics lined the Mexican side of the Rio Grande all the way from Matamoros to Ciudad Juarez. These days, Mexico is as liberal as liberal can get on the idea of women availing themselves to the medical procedure and, as we know, Mexico is as Catholic as The Vatican.

So, should we expect to see Hispanic Republican candidate Mayra Flores and GOP Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz (shown in photo above) addressing the topic that roils America from coast to coast these days?

Uh, don't hold your breath.

Not a peep has come from these two, not to date. Both are mothers, although 50-year-old De La Cruz is a single one.

Should they make their positions known? It's a losing proposition for Republicans these days, but the voters do deserve to know. Neither Flores, 38, nor De La Cruz has fielded questions on abortion. Republican-led Texas is whole hog against it, so perhaps we do know.

From NYMag.com: [ Since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade about two years ago, voters in seven states (Kansas, Kentucky, California, Michigan, Vermont, Montana, and Ohio) have been given an opportunity to weigh in on abortion policy. Pro-choice forces have won all seven. With Republican-controlled state legislatures imposing forced-birth regimes in large swaths of the country and Democrats envisioning a blue wave of voters seeking to restore abortion rights, efforts to secure November 2024 ballot measures have multiplied. And while it’s unclear at this juncture exactly how many states will hold votes on abortion policy, the odds of a continued pro-choice winning streak remain pretty good, according to the available polling. ]

Yeah, that All-Quiet-On-The-Abortion-Front you see is a strategy.

But we suspect that the Democrats in both races involving Flores (34th Congressional District) and De La Cruz (neighboring 15th) will soon bring it up. Flores badly trails incumbent Vicente Gonzalez, while De la Cruz has candidate Michelle Vallejo hot on her heels.

More and more, the Rio Grande Valley is not immune to issues roiling the rest of the country. Many here like to think they are up with the times, the current times being a smorgasbord of issues once only the purview of more-in-the-know hot shots in Austin or Washington, D.C. 

It was the Ol' Go Along to Get Along attitude.

Goodbye to that.

Today's Valleyites know the score. You can dance around issues all day long, but sundown brings the headier daily tally. Flores, shown in photo at left, and De La Cruz continue to play the old game, one that had our congressional candidates head over heels above the locals on most topics.

But those who know know that Monica De La Cruz is no Kika De La Garza. And, try as she might, Mayra Flores is no Vicente Gonzalez and, really, not even the second coming of any third-rate politician we've seen around here.

Abortion will sink many down-ballot Republicans in the November General Election. That Republican presidential candidate - Donald J. Trump - knows a woman's right-to-choose is one issue he won't touch. He'll blabber all day around it, saying the states should deal with it, but Democrats are going to hang a pair of speculums around his neck just to remind him.

Women know what speculums are and what they are used for...

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HERE IT COMES:...November Is Looking Good For RGV Democrats...Dog Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz In Heap Of Trouble...Candidate Mayra Flores Stuck In 2022...Yeah, LAND HO!!!!...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...About this time a year ago, Hispanic Republican candidate Mayra Flores was giddily yapping away about a coming Red Wave of her party faithful that would overwhelm voting booths from here to the Heavens.

God did not answer.

The dream-weaver Flores lost by more than 11,000 votes. There is no such colorful talk this time around as South Texas voters ready their minds ahead of the November General Election.

Also in the water is Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz, she of the homeless dog fetish. The District 15 representative is not making any waves, setting her campaign skiff's motor on automatic and apparently believing she has already beaten up & coming Democrat Michelle Vallejo.

What to think of all this?

Are Democrats now poised to sail on to victory at every level? They're not talking about any sort of Blue Wave, although their constituents are doing it online and during conversations in bars and restaurants.

It's what we're hearing, and our ears are on the ground. Daily, we take the measure of the discussion. There is NO WAY District 34 candidate Mayra Flores will make up her 11,000 vote defeat and NO WAY she will defeat incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez.

Take it to the beach and to the bank.

The sentiment comes from what we're hearing about the national campaign in play for both of our major political parties. Republicans continue to cry themselves to sleep nightly over flawed, convicted felon candidate Donald J. Trump and the recent polls have shown it is in a freefall.

Down-ballot candidates such as De La Cruz, shown in photo above, at right, and Flores, shown below, will pay the price.

The 50-year-old De La Cruz, a former insurance agent and single mom, has decided hanging out at women's boutiques and splashing talk about saving area small businesses is the ticket to a nice swim all the way to the election.

The peripatetic Flores, meanwhile, has centered her campaign on a sort of similar bent, choosing to visit eateries across the Lower Valley as a way to spotlight her own support of small businesses. It is a weird strategy for both Hispanic Republicans.

Democrats Gonzalez and Vallejo are taking another route. Gonzalez has kept announcing federal dollars coming to the area, while 33-year-old Vallejo has spotlighted her local roots - a winner for hometown- proud RGV voters, we would say.

Yes, it's still a long five months before the election.

Waves are a natural at sea. Giant ones rise and crest when they want to, washing in to cleanse and cool.

This time, it is a big, Blue wave that's coming...

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COURTING THE DOG VOTE:...Busy Bee District 15 Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz Is Into Dogs... The One-Term Republican Fills Her Daily Schedule With Protecting Them...And What About Her Human Constituents?...They Wonder What The Hell's Gotten Into Her...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The word on the winding campaign trail has it that if local Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz is not shopping, she's spotlighting the cruel and cold world of homeless dogs. Yesterday, she introduced Bakun, a dog without a home and one she is working hard to help. Never mind constituents; they can help themselves, is her message.

The comfortable one-term Republican from Edinburg has been sort of hopscotching across the southern end of her district in an effort to aid small businesses. Of late, that has had the 50-year-old, single mom hitting mostly women's boutiques, visits she spotlights on social media as supporting small business.

But it is dogs that come a strong second, or, more correctly, dogs in shelters in need of a home.

De La Cruz posted this note on her Facebook page yesterday: [ "Meet our adorable Dog of the Week, Bakun! This furry friend will bring smiles and wagging tails to Team Monica HQ all week long. Stop by our office to meet Bakun. Let’s help find their furr-ever home." ]

Then came the criticism.

"Stop showing dogs we need numbers that are relevant how many of the valley students went to college and what percent graduated," wrote a commenter named Angel Torres. "Then what percent got good paying jobs."

Bark, bark, indeed.

A week ago, it was homeless canines Curly and Dragon that needed homes, according to a De La Cruz post on Facebook. That led to this comment from one Sean Christian, "That's gonna save America? Can't afford groceries how do you think someone's pet got there?" 

It's hard to say exactly where her campaign is these days. Her familiar opponent in the November General Election, younger Democrat Michelle Vallejo, however, is busy walking the neighborhoods of Western Hidalgo County (District 34 encompasses the eastern half) while also spearheading a phone bank drive to reach voters.

Oh, wait, De La Cruz did host a mid-day Open House at her local headquarters the other day. Photos of that gathering showed a small group of well-dressed supporters. No dogs could be seen in any of the pictures she posted online.

The 33-year-old Vallejo, owner of a popular flea market in Alton, is busy with her traditional campaign, perhaps because it's her second shot at dilly-dallying De La Cruz, who beat her in 2022 by 12,881 votes (53.3% to 44.8%).

There is a certain confidence in De La Cruz (shown shopping at right, in black dress) most anyone closely monitoring this race can easily see. Her smile is everywhere, although what woman does not look happy shopping for clothes in a ritzy boutique.

Perhaps she needs a dog's special kind of love.

They say dogs don't care about your problems, your disappointments or your position. A dog loves you regardless.

Maybe this is how Congresswoman De La Cruz balances the ups & downs, the bummers & frustrations of her job...

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PRO BALL:...The Nice Rise Of The Women's National Basketball Association...Hell-o And Welcome, Caitlin Clark... Roundball Sensation...White Baller In League of 70% Black Stars...But No 2024 Olympic Team For Clark... This Time...

 

STAFF REPORT/ Americana

McALLEN, Texas |...The girl's a toughie, reminding us of one bygone John Havlicek, he of the tireless play for the champion Boston Celtics of the 1960s. We speak of 22-year-old Caitlin Clark, new star of the Indiana Fever.

Clark has brought fans to the young WNBA this season, even as her team struggles in the early going.

Like most rookies, Clark has had her ups and downs, scoring three points in her next to last game and then hitting for 30 in the latest.  

There has been some strife, however. A hard foul on her in a recent game led to critics and sports pundits saying Clark was being targeted and perhaps was too soft for the rough play of professional basketball.

From newsweek.com: [ However, even with all this stardom, Clark still wasn't able to make the Team USA roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer. According to Christine Brennan of USA Today, Clark was left off the roster because the program was worried about the lack of playing time for her on such a loaded team. Her fan base can be a little wild and it could have been a distraction. Even with this move, Clark could still make the roster due to injury. ]

Sparkplug Caitlin Clark should be on the team...

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SUN RECORDS:...My Song For Rebecca, Beautiful Daughter Of North Carolina...What A Time It Was, Kid...Tobu..."Return To The Wild"...

KEEP THE CHANGE:...Hispanic Republican Mayra Flores Wants To Win The 34th Congressional District Seat...Could She Win It Without Being A Full-Blown, Trump-Kissing MAGA?...It's A Laidback South Texas District...We Say, "Yes, She Could"...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...As an experienced news journalist, you look at candidates for office and it doesn't take long to see what they have to offer and whether or not they'll go far. In many cases these days, the reporter's assessment is a tough one, as the bar has been so lowered as to no longer be seen above ground.

How do you properly gauge a loudmouth novice who is saying what is perceived as the right thing by his or her party leaders? Is volume now a must? Well, the ridiculous is selling in some quarters. In down-ballot races, it remains a task of appealing to your own people and not the Big Picture, national base.

With that in mind, we have been wondering how much it would affect 34th Congressional District candidate Mayra Flores, a relative newcomer to politics.

She's held hard to the troubled party's ". . .Elect Trump At Any Cost" platform, invoking her love of God, Country & Family as if to not do it would be to lose it in the first inning. That slogan does not differentiate her from 99% of the population, as Americans, indeed, have their faith, their loyalty to the land and, of course, love of wife, hubby, the kids and extended family.

We see no particular gain in that slogan.

So, she believes all that. Well, good for her; she's human and not some discount robotoid easily programmed to hand over her brain.

As we have said and written before, we see some positives in Miss Flores. She has mastered the art of outspokenness, which we wish for all Hispanic politicians. She seems driven to play the game, which is a plus for an immigrant who was born in hardscrabble Burgos, Mexico but grew up in the poverty-stricken Rio Grande Valley.

At times, she seems as genuine as a real diamond.

But it is her other side, one she has gladly adopted, that still bothers us. Mayra Flores has yet to be Mayra Flores, the original. To date, she continues to voluntarily play the harsh, often-racist MAGA card and its accompanying price; that of supporting convicted felon, racist, rapist, women fondler, adulterer Donald J. Trump.

That's a monster clash of values when compared to her upbringing.

Yet, there she is: All-Maga, All-The Time.

We could support her in this ongoing, clearly Quixotic campaign (she lost to Gonzalez by 11,000 votes in 2022) against deep-pockets, well-entrenched Democrat incumbent Vicente Gonzalez, who we see as a comfortable bureaucrat quick to quash critical commentary about his service for District 34 constituents.

But we are halted by her decision to stick to the national noise and not speak to issues and people who live down here along the Mexican Border, a constituency often characterized as forever struggling to put food on the table or a roof over their heads.

Mayra Flores is not talking about any of that. She keeps singing the same MAGA party refrain that actually goes nowhere down here. We say a photo op of her sitting in some area resident's living room would go far in overcoming her recent escapade of dining in eateries across the valley while saying she is doing it to support small businesses.

Screw small businesses!

Those here today, gone tomorrow capitalists all know what game they got into, and a congressperson's job is not to get them in the black.

Candidate Mayra Flores needs to humanize her cold-as-ice campaign by engaging, uh, PEOPLE!!!

And she can do it. But...

what's her message anyway? Hard to tell, even at this point. She offers herself in public settings and nothing on serious issues of the day. Nor does she express her position on policies she favors or disdains. Simply slamming the Democrat and waiting on the vote in November won't cut it, not after she lost by those 11,000 votes in 2022?

If only she got it out of her head that she needs MAGA. She really doesn't, not down here...

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WHO KNEW:...American TV Loses Another Familiar Face...Snarky Pat Sajak Of "Wheel of Fortune" Calls It Quits...Yeah, But Who Knew Blondie Sidekick Vanna White Had Such Horrible Gums?...

 

STAFF REPORT/Americana

McALLEN, Texas |...It's her gums! Look at her. Big Smile and nice rack, but those teeth and gums are straight out of some bad-genes babe at a Georgia trailer park.

Oh, well, she's leaving.

Game show hostess Vanna White is out, as is host Pat Sajak. Out of the wildly-popular show "Wheel Of Fortune," we mean.

Those of your who chase the scintillating ocean waves of audience fun and laughter in these shows likely already know that Sajak's last show was yesterday. Adios, MOFO! You were never that funny, not with that hair.

The original version of the game show was a network daytime series hosted by laughing Chuck Woolery and Susan Stafford. When Woolery left in 1981, he was replaced by Sajak and after Stafford left in 1982, she was eventually replaced by Vanna White, with the co-hosts having hosted the nighttime version since its inception in 1983.

Now, after more than four decades of hosting, Sajak has retired, and his final episode aired on June 7. American Idol host Ryan Seacrest will take over for Season 42 in September.

Yes, we know. Who cares?

A woman with high gums is not our idea of attractiveness, as isn't large horse teeth or a flat ass.

But we shall persevere.

Television programming always brings something new, right?...

-30- 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:......We Are Reevaluating Our Position On This Candidate's Bid For The 34th Congressional District Seat...She Is Challenging Incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez...

 

SUN RECORDS:...One Of A Handful of Tunes From The Beatles I Actually Like..."Back In The U.S.S.R."...

SO, WHERE ARE WE?:...So Many Questions Abound As Things Seem To Be Dealt With...Prison Or Nothing Of The Sort For Trump?...Polls As Reliable Info...Are Americans Too Damaged To Care?...Do You Get All The News You Need From The Weather Report?...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Years ago, when I was making my way through Journalism School at U.T.-Arlington, my professor would always stick to the lesson and never stray into intellectualizing what he was teaching. Stay with the news, the news you are reporting, he would say. Stay on it, with it.

That was rough at first, mainly because I had ventured into the field because of my interest in writing.

But daily journalism, for newspapers, is a study in what that same professor called the "small sky of vocabulary." There are plenty of words you never see in a newspaper story. Writing for magazines and book form is to use the entire sky.

Which is where intellectualizing comes in.

As a reporter, you can wax poetic on certain stories, but never on others. A Sunday Edition piece on the national politics of Mexico allows for some freedom of expression, i.e. the free use of adjectives; a story about a father who up and decides to drown his children is quite another thing altogether.

These days, there is so much opinion writing on our politics that news stories they accompany are taking second-billing. Donald J. Trump is convicted in criminal court and that story flails out. Right behind it comes a current of opinion pieces to buttress the event.

Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records for tax purposes goes the straight news story. One asking if the verdict will it sink his candidacy for president follows right behind. Another asks if the recently completed case was honest and not political weaponization by Trump's enemies. Yet another ventures into whether he will go to prison.

The list is long, limited only by the angles members of the working press can come up with.

Lost in it all is the idea of what we used to call traditional reporting being the mainstay of a newspaper and of discussion at the dinner table. Today, the mounds of opinion-writing dominate conversations in bars and restaurant, some of it not fit for the dinner table at home.

Is that a bad thing?

No, not entirely. Free-flow partisan news is the new kid on the block. A minute or two with a right-wing website or publication confesses its purpose. Same for the left-wing efforts. Once, all you had was the no-nonsense evening news on network TV - ABC, CBS and NBC, all three regulated by the FCC.

The free-wheeling you face today comes from Cable-TV, which is not regulated by broadcast license government standards. FOX News is solely on cable-access and it is considered "entertainment." That also goes for CNN and Newsmax. Websites are regulated only their platform providers who avail it for a price. A jillion bloggers also play into this, many of them without any journalism education, and many more doing it on free platforms such as this one, Blogger.com.

It has led to "news" coming at people as if a hard, ceaseless rain.

The networks won't intellectualize news. They may offer an opinion segment, but even that will be straight and no-nonsense. You are more likely to get it on news-oriented show like 60 Minutes.  

And it may not even be intellectualizing; it could easily be straight-up, "entertaining" silliness, as offered by a host of news-like channels on Youtube.com, another growing weed field of amateurs.

Is this monsoon of news our current problem?

To a very large extent, yes.

Who knows how many of us track the day's news as if it all matters, doing it hour by hour, day after day? Americans have always been loyal consumers of their free press.

The problem today is that the once-trusted free press has been joined by a wild collection of foghorns out to persuade and not to inform.

And, well, who needs that, I know...

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RGV MAYORS IN D.C.:...There To Support Biden's New Border Asylum Initiative...Missing Was McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos...Maybe Not Invited...He's Been All About Pumping Up The Region...He's GOP...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Perhaps he was not invited, but McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos did not join other Rio Grande Valley mayors on their trip to The White House. They were there to support President Joe Biden's latest Border Asylum Initiative.

". . .Honored to have been invited to the White House to join President Biden for his press conference on the Executive Order." wrote Mayor Norma Sepulveda of Harlingen on her Facebook page. "Joined by fellow South Texas mayors, I was proud to represent Harlingen and be at the forefront of issues affecting our community."

Edinburg's mayor, Ramiro Garza Jr, was there, as was Brownsville Mayor John Cowen.

We should note that Villalobos identifies himself as a Republican, so that may explain his absence. But the guy has been all about pushing the region since assuming the job, even traveling often into Mexico in support of economic trade that affects all of the valley.

There was no comment on his always in-the-know Facebook page.

We generally support all Villalobos (shown in photo at right) has done and is doing. This, however, is not a good thing for the RGV. His absence is glaring. Everybody in the valley knows of Mayor Villalobos and his efforts to upgrade life and politics in the area.

This one, however, will sting.

Villalobos should have been part of the RGV contingent in D.C.

How will he explain it?

Simply by saying that he happens to be a Republican? Sorry, that's just too lame. Noting that he was not invited? I'm sure the other mayors - and the president - would have been fine with his attendance, if for no other reason than that McAllen is a huge and integral part of the valley.

This is not a good optic for Villalobos, no... 

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SUN RECORDS:...From The Back Pages....Lindsey Buckingham And Stevie Nicks..."Never Going Back Again" (Live) 2005...

MAYRA'S FOLLY:...Her "All You Can Eat" Campaign At Clear Odds With District 34 Democrat Incumbent Vicente Gonzalez's Can-Do Approach...She's Weak On New Ideas...Eating Out Daily Shows Mayra's Out-Of-Touch With Valleyites.....

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Again yesterday, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez arrived with federal dollars for this city, this as Mayra Flores, his flighty Republican opponent, was scarfing down another plate of grub in her rolling "All You Can Eat" campaign ahead of the November General Election.

This was Democrat Gonzalez's announcement: "I’m proud to announce that the Flor De Mayo International Bridge has received a Presidential Permit, paving the way for enhanced U.S.-Mexico connectivity. This bridge will be located in Brownsville, Texas. Thank you, President Joe Biden, for authorizing this crucial infrastructure that will boost commerce and strengthen our community."

Stark contrast is likely a phrase foreign to Mayra Flores, but that is now evident in the 34th Congressional District seat fight.

Where Gonzalez deals in action for his constituents, Flores is gauging tacos across the Rio Grande Valley. It is both odd and bizarre. She has flashed her food tour featuring eateries from Brownsville, to Harlingen, to Weslaco, to Pharr and McAllen.

We ask: Does she have a cookbook idea for her post-election life?

Gonzalez has delivered on federal cash for the Port of Brownsville, for work on Harlingen's airport, for affordable housing in the valley and now for the needed bridge.

Where was Mayra Flores?

Killing plates of BBQ, nopalitos and eggs, chicken fried steak, crispy tacos, pizza, Mexican combo plates and even a few snacks in between. Her campaign manager must be a former McDonald's shift manager. Hers is no serious campaign, is what we would say.

And that is not good news for a candidate on her second run at the office, one she lost by more than 11,000 votes in the last go round, in 2022.

Nothing on issues or policy from Mayra.

It is as if she believes all she has to do is put her nose behind the MAGA mob and she'll win. Poor girl. She has no clue. It's now less than five months before the election in November and she has offered nothing new. Nada. Zip. Zero. This Mayra is the 2022 Mayra.

And, well, no one is happier for that than incumbent Congressman Gonzalez...

-30-

SUN RECORDS:...From The Official Band Of Texas...Texas Tornados..."Clinging To You"...

IN MEXICO, IT'S SHEINBAUM:...Claudia To Be Country's First Woman Prez...She Won Handily... Promises To Augment AMLO's Legacy...No Felony Conviction Trailing Her...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The result was no great surprise. Mexico had two options in selecting a candidate for its next president: Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling Morena Party or Xóchitl Galvez, the one postured by a grouping of several parties.

Sheinbaum will be Mexico's next president after Sunday's election.

This from The Associated Press: [ "I will become the first woman president of Mexico," Sheinbaum said with a smile, speaking at a downtown hotel shortly after electoral authorities announced a statistical sample showed she held an irreversible lead. "I don’t make it alone. We’ve all made it, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters."

"We have demonstrated that Mexico is a democratic country with peaceful elections," she said.

The National Electoral Institute’s president said Sheinbaum had between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to a statistical sample. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez had between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote and Jorge Álvarez Máynez had between 9.9% and 10.8% of the vote. Sheinbaum’s Morena Party was also projected to hold majorities in both chambers of Congress. ]

The Sunday vote was something of an affirmation for outgoing president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). Critics still abound to many of his policies, including his decision not to go after the Mexican drug cartels.

That hands-off is likely to remain in place, as Sheinbaum has said little about Mexico's continuing headache.

The 61-year-old Sheinbaum will begin her presidency on October 1...

-30-

MEXICO VOTES TODAY:...Next President Will Be A Woman...First One...Ex-Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum Is The Favorite...She's A Member Of The Morena Party...Same As AMLO...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The campaigning and gunfire is over. How many local candidates were assassinated? Too many. But Mexicans go to the polls today to cast votes for their next president.

It's been a wild ride, again full of pride and murder.

Well, how many? Try picturing 37 candidates dead and gone. Most of them were seeking mayoral jobs, some killed at their own rallies. Jose Alfredo Cabrera, candidate for mayor of Coyuca de Benitez in the state of Guerrero, was gunned down as he approached a podium to give his closing speech.

Ricardo Arizmendi, candidate for mayor of Cuautla, Morelos, was shot in the head five times while in his office. No arrests as yet for either shooting. The brazen killings also led to campaign withdrawals by 515 candidates. And, according to a news release issued by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), 3,000 military troops are guarding at least 500 candidates across the country.

Many Mexicans readily blame the drug cartels for the violence. Others blame the Mexican military.

But Mexico will buck-up and vote.

This from MexicoNewsDaily.com: [ . . . .Mexico’s three presidential candidates held their final campaign events on Wednesday, four days before millions of Mexicans go to the polls to elect a successor to President López Obrador.

Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, the ruling Morena party candidate and the clear frontrunner, drew more than half a million people to Mexico City’s main square, the Zócalo, for her cierre de campaña, or campaign closure, according to the Mexico City government.

Her main rival, Xóchitl Gálvez of the three-party Strength and Heart for Mexico opposition bloc, made her final campaign address in her hometown of Tepatepec, Hidalgo, but before that she spoke in front of more than 20,000 people at a packed Arena Monterrey in the capital of the northern border state of Nuevo León.

The third candidate, Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizens Movement party, closed his campaign with a music festival-style event at a Mexico City concert venue. ]

In Mexico, a president serves a single 6-year term...

-30-

SUN STORIES:..."When She Was Good"...OK, What Is Real Love?...Well, It Never Actually Stays...More Like A Good, Cold Beer...There's Only So Much In The Bottle...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...I fell for her the way a bird falls for a birdhouse; she was as comfortable in the heat as in the rain. That was 10 years ago, and who knows where Isabelle is these days?

My loves have been plenty, some to be remembered and most to be forgotten.

Isabelle Cruz came to me when I was between women. Perhaps it happened because both of us were out looking for fun, there on the island off the Texas Coast.

My idea was for a nice long weekend of relaxing at the beachfront hotel bar, up in my room with that balcony facing the storied Gulf of Mexico and evenings with the funseekers at the bar.

We were midway through a piano bar singalong of Mickey Gilley's "Stand By Me" when I spotted sexy Isabelle ambling in with the full panache of a woman who knows she's beautiful. Grace, that's what I saw in her. A full command of grace. I thought her hair was the essence of a $700 pillow, there looking as if it would welcome me at the precise moment of love later that night, which happened up in her room.

Isabelle said she thought I looked like fun and like the British rocker Cliff Richard. I said I was fun to the second power and then, "...Who is Cliff Richard?" She threw her head and flowing hair back, like a javelin thrower, and laughed beautifully, no effort in other words. The night segued into a three-day weekend escapade before Isabelle told me she was due at work in the morning with AeroMexico Airlines, which employed her as a stewardess.

I never saw her again.

Three, four, five times I booked flights on AeroMexico in the ensuing months and never came close to getting any info on her whereabouts. So, what's all this lying rot people say about love, real love, insisting on staying? Love doesn't stay, no matter what anyone tells you.

It's more like a beer to be tasted and enjoyed, knowing there is only so much in the bottle...

-30-

WE BREAK WITH BIDEN:...On Helping Israel Wipe Palestine Off The Face Of The Earth...U.S.A. To Send Another $Billion In Weapons To Keep Killing Women And Children...There Has To Be A Better Solution...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The usual argument used against me on this topic is that, well, what does one missile cost, or what does one Iron Dome battery cost. In defense of Israel, we mean.

This past week, President Joe Biden approved the transfer of $1 billion in weaponry for Israel, as it perseveres in its effort to wipe Palestine off the face of the Earth.

We oppose any more military aid to the Israelis, as it is clear they have won the ongoing war - irrespective of what critics say about terrorists the world over never ones to sleep on attacks.

Our beef with president is that Israel keeps bombings (we supply them), Palestinian women and children keep dying and nothing is said about how far the war effort has cut into Hamas, the terrorist organization behind the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli settlers.

So far, the body count on the Palestinian side is in excess of 36,000.   

This excerpt from MotherJones.com: [. . . . After officials repeatedly warned that they would consider stopping the flow of weapons to Israel if it pressed forward with a ground invasion into Rafah, the Biden administration announced it would nonetheless attempt to send more than $1 billion in additional weapons to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night, citing congressional officials.

The Journal reports that the latest package "includes the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds." Congress will have to approve the latest package. ]

It's all relative, of course. War is not cheap.

A complete battery for that Iron Dome missile defense system we provide the Israelis costs an estimated $100 million to produce, while each interceptor costs up to around $50,000, according to a Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis. Israel reportedly has six batteries.

One billion dollars is 1,000 million.

Not exactly chump change.

And, really, for what - a complete and total annihilation of a peoples, many of them hardly political? The ceaseless wanton killing of women and children anywhere is criminal and grotesque. Israel is doing it with a certain glee we find disgusting.

Make no mistake, America: This is a U.S. military operation, if it's only American missiles and bombs being used. Oh, and keep in mind that Israel also gets another billion-plus-change in annual foreign aid.

We say enough is enough.

A fight, or war, between heavily-armed Israel and Third-World Palestine is no fair fight. Yes, Hamas get its rockets and weapons from Iran and that is nothing to ignore, but, really, this is like the Green Bay Packers taking on the Hidalgo High School Red Ants. No contest.

Lately, President Biden keeps cautioning Israeli right-wing Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu against continued ground assaults and has also complained about Israeli Defense Forces ordering Palestinian civilians away from planned bombing and then bombing the area they said would be safe.

This has gone on too long.

The U.S. risks being seen as the weapons and cash behind this assault.

My friends say that already is the case...

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THE MORNING AFTER:...Stunning Guilty Verdict From Hometown Jury Floors Slumping Donald J. Trump... Republicans Up In Arms...Uh, Guilty On All 34 Counts...Jurors Slammed...But Trump's Defense Lawyers Agreed On This jury, So...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...So, here we are again, all excited, some flummoxed, at hearing Donald J. Trump lost his Stormy Daniels hush money case in New York - in his hometown, judged by a jury of his hometown peers.

Trump lost 34-0.

Guilty on all counts, came the much-anticipated decision from the 12 jurors, which we should note were selected in agreement by both prosecuting lawyers and those for Trump's defense. Interestingly, the verdict came in the same courtroom where the infamous Central Park Five were tried and convicted of raping and killing a White woman in 1989.

Trump had vigorously pursued the death penalty for all five Blacks, using full-page Ads in the New York Times to push his desire. All five were later exonerated, one even - Yusef Salaam - elected to the New York City Council last November.

Irony of ironies, Baby.

But we break for morning coffee knowing the verdict has again turned the country upside down. That was to be expected, as Trump continues to draw incredible fandom from his MAGA faithful to the nearest ATM for payment of his legal fees. It is a weird time in America, indeed.

Trump is now scheduled to be sentenced on July 11th.

What will bustling Lower Manhattan look like on that day? We can only imagine. I mean, when the Republican Speaker of The House of Representatives (Mike Johnson) shows up late in the trial and labels it a "sham," well...it tells you we're aboard a runaway rollercoaster.

Trump is looking at prison, if trial judge Juan Merchan pulls that trigger.

He's the unquestionable frontrunner for the ragged Republican Party's presidential nomination, so, the U.S. being a mostly civilized land, well, again that well, Trump gets special treatment that may not be all that deserved. But we beat onward against the current, as novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald would say about here.

The case will be dissected for years. Historians will eventually put it in context.

Donald Trump will be long gone, his time on Earth one of daily lying and cheating. There will be books sympathetic to him and books out to decimate his life. It is all fair in America.

I am satisfied.

But then, I was from that day in early April of this year when this exchange in court took place:

Judge Merchan: "Do you understand the charges?"

Trump: "Yes."

Two grown men had spoken. Everything else would unfold as it did.

It's all a Black Eye on this oft-abused nation. Yeah, bang the drum slowly one more time...

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TRUMP GUILTY!!!: Manhattan Jury Wastes Little Time In Convicting MAGA Figurehead...Sentencing Is Scheduled For July 11th...He Can Still Run For Office ...He's A Felon, But...He Can Still Run...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Well, that didn't take long. Republican Donald J. Trump is now a convicted felon after a jury in a New York court found him guilty of messing with business records in connection with hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11th.

Not that it is a great surprise, but many expected the jury to head into next week without a verdict.

It's a moment-in-time for the country.

Trump remains the figurehead leader of the Republican Party and is expected to grab the party's nomination for president at its convention later this summer. The general election takes place on November 5th.

From axios.com: [ Trump said from the Manhattan courthouse after being convicted that "the real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people."

"We'll keep fighting and we'll fight to the end and we'll win," Trump said.

Trump's legal team is likely to appeal the verdict, a process that is unlikely to conclude before November. ]

We will update this as developments break...

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GENERATION OF SWINE:...A Weakened America In Peril...Street Rape Of The Constitution...Politics In A Cesspool...Crazed Republicans Busy At Dismantling Democracy...Is Mayra Flores Really A Republican?...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...Republicans are amok. Grown males in heat, their women open to it all. Viciously sexing an entire country with blood-thirsty verbiage. They wish to see another America, goes the line in bars and restaurants. I feel it. And, yes, I know, heat is always about elevating the temperature. Republicans are masters of destruction.

Good morning.

Well, the jury in that New York courtroom has the first criminal case against one Donald J. Trump, pretty much the expected Republican Party nominee for president in the upcoming November General Election. That's one hope against all hope.

It's more than evident at this point, I was telling a friend the other day.

Words bite. Insulting words fight harder. Separatists know the lingo. They want you over there, not with them. They know the psychology of the weak. They play the game of attraction, only it's not that at all. The Republican Party as we know it today is not a party for all, Black and Brown window dressing aside.

But fools are plentiful in our ever-ragged nation of immigrants.

Why else would an Indian-American named Vivek Ramaswamy begin to think he could be a Republican, a Republican president at that! It was never going to happen, yet there he was, there he still is - a sad and laughable cartoonization of his proud culture.

There's Tim Scott, the U.S. Senator from South Carolina.

He's very Black with oversized horse teeth, a smiler of sorts. He, too, is a Republican wannabe. They would never accept him, even with his required plain-Jane white galpal. Some say he's up for vice-president in that Trump ticket, only that also will never happen. Trump is all about "whiteness," and he's made it clear on more than one occasion. Tim Scott? Make me laugh, bro.

Locally, one Mayra Flores (shown in photo above, at right) claims to be a Republican, die-hard even she will tell you. But she's not. I doubt that Trump-prankster Steve Bannon knows who she is. Same for Stephen Miller, the Trump operative said to be behind all this Nazi stuff chasing Trump.

Oh, there's a photo out there of the sheltered Flores with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and another with Gov. Greg Abbott - both very "in" with Trump.

We hear that Mayra Flores dreams of being invited to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's version of Eagle Nest (Google it). The invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. Flores is still here, lumbering across the Rio Grande Valley, in and out of eateries as if to not eat is to die. She fully believes she is in a competitive race against well-entrenched Democrat Vicente Gonzalez for his 34th Congressional District seat. If only!!!

Neighboring District 15 has incumbent Republican Monica De La Cruz (shown in photo below, left).

I at times think about writing a book about these two lost Mexicans. But a voice in my head says they have no "staying power;" that is, both will end up as inconsequential footnotes in their own who-cares diaries.

Such is the fate of low-ranking flies in a cult.

They are nobodies at the end of the day. I have covered serious, Big-Time politicians in my journalism career, candidates with something to offer the collective, not all ready for it but at the very least educated on who we are and are not in this country. Cheap-ass, rowdy politicians are suddenly a dime a dozen, and that is not a good thing.

Yes, that's still the American Dream - one of everyone rising to the many opportunities. It's all well & good, only some Americans are simply not qualified, not up to the job of leading and representing. They are more groupies than leaders.

Mayra Flores teaching me a thing or two? Ha ha. Maybe how to traipse across our local geography in search of the Perfect Taco. Monica De La Cruz? Sorry, District 15, but she's hollow, acquired Republican veneer covering a lonely divorcee's ambitions.

So, what about it all? Is there a moral to the story here.

Well, we have at our disposal a good hundred morals, yes.

But what we'll say is this: The Republican Party these days is a road show looking for who knows what, other than tackling Lady Liberty and repeatedly raping her, poor, aging Uncle Sam beaten to a pulp by ballsy Republican women in that nursing home over yonder.

The election this November is a test of what this free country has been for more than 200 years, about whether it all will be shitcanned for the laughing pleasure of one flawed racist individual.

Republicans are exhibiting rabid tendencies.

It would be a monumental job for an army of psychiatrists. It will be the test of a lifetime for voters...

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THE RED LINE:...In Gaza, Freewheeling Killing Of Lesser-Armed Palestinians By Warring Israeli Forces Still Unabated...Warnings From American President Joe Biden Go Unheeded...U.S.-Backed Jews Have Killed 36,000...Palestinian Women And Children...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Those Israelis are a wicked lot these days. At war with Palestine for the last seven months, it has pretty much wiped-out cities and towns in the Gaza Strip while out to kill Hamas terrorists it says were behind last October attacks on Jewish settlers.

So far, more than 36,000 Palestinians have died in the U.S.-supported war - many, many of them women and children. It's a day for wanton killing in the Middle East.  

From New York Daily News: [ Sunday night’s attack in Rafah near the Egyptian border, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.

"Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night, there was a tragic mistake," Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament. "We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy." ]

Sometimes you can't help but notice the overkill in these things. Israel, an ally of the United States, continues on its apparent mission to rid the world of Palestinians. Netanyahu may speak of "tragic" military mistakes, but more Palestinians died over the weekend.

We reel at photos of the bombings, the charred vehicles and the down buildings. There, buried by rubble, are the bodies of the dead, the latest ones living in a tent city of sorts as they tried to outrun the Israeli bombs - bombs and weaponry supplied by the U.S.

It's one thing to seek revenge against terrorist attacks, but this is beyond the pale, so much so that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for right-wing Netanyahu - which the U.S. has condemned.

Still, sentiment in Congress lies in feeding Israel all of its needs in this one-way fight. Billions of dollars in emergency aid, augmented by weaponry that is just so obscene in this war. American President Joe Biden rightly complained about a sneaky move by the Israelis in which Palestinian refugees were told on incoming attacks and asked to move away from the intended targets.

The blood-thirsty Israelis, however, then bombed the so-called "safe" zone.

So where does it stop?

What else can Israel do to these outnumbered, outgunned people?

Whatever it wants, apparently. We do say that the Israelis were correct in seeking revenge against the terrorists, but not to this unabated extreme. Killing for killing's sake is wrong, and the supportive U.S. has some accounting in this one. 

We ask: Is the game plan one of destroying Palestine statehood and seeing survivors flee the area into neighboring countries, as they seemed to be doing in Rafah?

It's sad and it's criminal, but yes...

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ROCK THE VOTE:...The Cancer Has Spread...Time To Excise...Scalpel! ...Sponges!!...Ooops...Nurse, Call The Morgue...Good Job, Everyone!!!...

 

THE VERDICT:...Coming Soon To A Boob Tube Near You...Porn Star-Addled Donald Trump On Trial...The End Is Nigh...Guilty, Not Guilty...Or Hung Jury???... Haughty New Yorkers Deciding This One...Without Apologies...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...The holiday weekend is over today, and, in New York, a trial jury gets back to work on the Hush Money case against one Donald J. Trump, troubled Republican candidate for the highest office in the land.

Closing arguments arrive this week on those 34 charges lodged by the Manhattan District Attorney.

An abused nation holds its breath, cabbies place their bets, and a citizenry awaits the up or down verdict. We have arrived at the moment of truth, the bottom of the ninth inning, the due date on an old debt.

So, what are the chances of a guilty verdict? Pundits say they are high. A not guilty decision? Not so much. A Hung Jury? Now, there's a quirky possibility.

All it takes is one member of the jury to balk at conviction and there'd we go again.

Everyone knows New Yorkers are arrogant, headstrong people. Lord knows I know from my days writing for The New York Post. You can offer them evidence of wrongdoing and, well, stubbornness knows no better friend than a New Yorker. They don't scare easily. They love to throw stuff back you in words that seem fighting but are more from the complete conviction side of the brain.

Sit in the right-field stands at Yankee Stadium and get a wild whiff of it.

Challenge a pizza maker about the number of pepperoni slices on your pie and be drowned by expletives in true Italian.

Tell a taxi driver he's taking the long route and get an instant education in traffic flows according to time of day. In curt, terse lingo, too.

No, this particular jury will not be swayed by bellicose MAGA types or by fearmongering thrown their way by Trump, himself. The jury will speak in its typical New York way, it says here.

I expect a GUILTY verdict rendered without apology...

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SUN RECORDS:...Been A Few Long Years, But This One Still Sails...Sting..."All This Time"...

THE WIFE:...Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Has Blamed His 70-Year-Old, Pageboy-Coiffed Wife In That "Flying The American Flag Upside Down" At Their Home Affair...Foolish Martha-Ann Alito Likely Consulted Her Activist Hubby...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

HARLINGEN, Texas |...Tomorrow is Memorial Day, that short 24-hour set-aside we use to honor those who died serving this country's military in defense of freedom. Fly your flags, America. Fly them high and fly them with pride.

We have only one flag - the stars & stripes.

The poor rag has been abused of late. We've all seen the disrespect. It continues, however. Politics is to blame say those who fly it upside down these days. They are merely expressing some disappointment or another, perhaps feuding with neighbors out to push another dogma.

Martha-Ann Alito, shown in photo above with husband Samuel, the Supreme Court Associate Justice, is one who's disrespected the national banner by flying it upside down atop a cool-looking flagpole outside the Alito home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Yeah, what to think of it?

A good case could be made for some sort of punishment, as could another case for granting the Alitos a pass in honor of freedom of speech. That's what our servicemen and servicewomen gave up their lives for isn't it - to defend democracy and its freedoms.

As reported, 70-year-old Martha-Ann Alito took the steps outside to lower her banner and whip it upside down before running it back up to the top in a show of some disgust with a neighbor openly flying an anti-Donald Trump flag up the street in her quiet, wealthy neighborhood.

Okay. She's a sheltered housewife with a maid and likely has time for such angry displays. Should we crucify her? You can if you wish to do that. Freedom of Speech is for everybody. If you side by her, say it. If you don't, say that, too.

There is, however, something stupid in flying our flag upside down. I believe that, as I believe burning it is equally stupid. Fall to anger if you must, but fly that flag high and with respect. Too many Americans in uniform have died protecting it. Surely, Martha-Ann Alito, a Yale U. graduate, knows that.

Reports had it that husband Samuel was blaming his wife for the flag imbroglio. I doubt that. I suspect there was talk between the two before Martha-Ann went ahead with the silly plan. It was the public blowback that likely caught distracted Samuel by surprise. He's been busy with his own Right-Wing agenda.   

The woman looks like an innocent suburban housewife, one with the face of general conviviality and the body of a person who looks in the bedroom's full-length mirror every morning and tells herself to layoff the cherry pastry.

Perhaps this ill-advised flag mess is a result of other problems Martha-Ann is currently battling. Who really knows about today's suburban housewives, right?

I do wonder if she'll leave the flag flying upside down on Monday, all day Monday...Memorial Day...

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INSULT OF THE YEAR 2024:...Georgia Firecracker Marjorie Taylor Greene Gets It Face-Up...Rare In The Hallowed History Of Our Usually-Sedate Congress... Texan Jasmine Crockett Shuts Her Up...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Excuse me while I laugh one more time. It's been one rough year for national politics and, well, most of it has been about putting up with childish silliness and high school antics from our so-called leaders, not a one exactly the dude or gal we'd follow into battle.

But we persevere here.

The Academy award-worthy scene was a rare late-night meeting in Congress of the House Oversight Committee a week ago yesterday, its odd scheduling due to one of those selfish, self-serving actions by our congressmen that have nothing to do with legislating, i.e. visits to the trial in New York of one Donald J. Trump, oft-indicted leader of the errant Republican Party these days.

There discussing the meeting's long agenda was Republican Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, perhaps antsy to get done with business at hand, scolding Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who'd asked for clarification from Committee Chairman James Comer.

Forty-nine-year-old Marjorie for some reason opted to lay blame on Crockett's concerns by noting her "fake eyelashes" as one reason why she could not make sense out of the written material being discussed.

Uh, big mistake from the trailer park queen Taylor Greene.

Without wasting one second, Crockett, a Democrat who holds the Tx-District 30 seat once occupied by the legendary Eddie Bernice Johnson, a firebrand of a more intellectual bent, tore into Taylor Greene with the insult that backed Washington, D.C. on its heels and still rings as the Putdown Of The Year.

Crockett, 43, a graduate of the University of Houston School of Law, called her a "bleach blonde, bad build, butch body."

The world of political insults will never be the same again.

It roared out of the nation's capital and into the comedy routines of late-night television.

The Internet swelled like Sophie Tucker never did. It was high humor of the killing kind.

Taylor Greene is used to being the insulter, the one throwing her rural shit at everybody else's face, and she's good at it. A trucker's loud voice is her talent. There is no doubt that loudmouth Marjorie will weather this hellacious hit, however. She will be back.

But for one glorious moment-in-time, her ass was thrown up against the wall, where it flattened before sliding down like ice cream melting all the way to the floor.

Thank you, Congresswoman Crockett...

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ALITO'S SICKNESS:...Right-Wing Supreme Court Associate Justice Alito Flies American Flag Upside Down At His Home...Quickly Blames Hot-Tempered Wife...He Knew...He Knew What The Old Bag Was Doing...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...A tall flagpole outside his home, a hard-to-miss, pretty large American flag flapping in the Virginia breeze, flying upside down - that sure outward sign of anger, unrest or just plain hate.

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito cannot talk fast enough to try and get that shit off his face and back. Activist judge? No question about it.

Time to get him off the highest court in the land.

This from salon.com: [ When Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was caught raising an upside-down American flag outside his Virginia home, the conservative jurist found a woman to blame: his wife. It was she who decided to wave the chosen banner of election deniers in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, he said, after she became righteously furious at an allegedly profane display of anti-Trump sentiment in her neighborhood. Alito, innocent, just happened to live there - with no input on the seditious décor.

Everything about this is normal, okay? ]

No, it's not. It's a damned assault on a symbol of the entire country. I know, you can burn the flag and you can stomp it and drag it through the mud, if you like. It's just a rag, more symbolic than anything else.

But it does represent the nation.

Willfully flying it upside down says something. Max Moron can do it, and few will care. But when a Supreme Court justice does it, well, that's something altogether else.

Alito's lame response has been woeful, more the words of a henpecked husband than a ranking member of the Supreme Court. Blaming the wife is something that side of shitty and weak. Man up, MOFO!!!

Maybe it's time for Congress to do something about this Republican Clown, eh?

Send him packing today, I'd say...Go home, dude. Go and get those dishes done before suppertime, as ordered by your un-American wife... 

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THE ROUT IN DISTRICT 34:...Congressman Vicente Gonzalez Keeps Bringing Home Our Share Of Federal Dollars...Republican Opponent Mayra Flores Spends Her Time Checking Out RGV Eateries...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...At this point in the much-watched campaign, it's a mauling. Picture a powerhouse football team taking a 44-point lead into halftime. Five months to go before Election Day and District 34 Congressman Vicente Gonzalez has once-feisty Republican opponent Mayra Flores in his rearview mirror, her rumbling body barely visible in the dust cloud.

It's about representation, isn't - about doing for the constituency.

Gonzalez is doing it pretty much weekly. His string of bring-homes includes cash for needed dredging at the Port of Brownsville and for improvements to the air traffic control tower at Harlingen's busy-busy airport.

Now this from his office:

". . . .Thank you to U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development for providing $7.9M in grants to upgrade public housing in South Texas. This greatly supports disadvantaged families and strengthens our communities."

Lord knows it'll help. Public housing in the Rio Grande Valley is woeful compared to other areas of the country. This grant is a win-win for all concerned, the poor especially.

Opponent Flores, of course, is at a wicked and distinguishable disadvantage. Shown in color photograph at right, she's the challenger and there is nothing she can do to match what Gonzalez is doing, although check-by-check, she has helped a few RGV eateries during the past two weeks, her eating-out escapades the centerpiece of her excitable Facebook page.

Something better spark the Flores campaign into action or someone in her camp will soon lead her through a chorus of "Turn out the lights...the party's over..."

We have this contest in Gonzalez's pocket at present. Things could change, but we are not seeing any energy in the Flores effort, a minimal one at this point.

That is no way to overcome an 11,000-vote loss of the sort she lost to Gonzalez in 2022...

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