WAR:...Tiny Qatar Brokers Gaza Strip Ceasefire...13,000 Palestinians Killed In Israeli Invasion...U.S. Pushing Deal...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Okay, but when did tiny Qatar become a major player in geo-politics. It is now the main broker in that ceasefire being considered for war-torn Palestine. Really? Who knew? Qatar, yes. With the added backing of the real force behind the halt-the-killing push, the U.S.

Israel, attacked by Hamas terrorists based in the Gaza Strip, isn't all that into it, but it does answer to the whims of the Americans.

This from axios.com: [ A deal between Israel and Hamas to free dozens of hostages and declare a multi-day ceasefire is imminent and could be announced by the Qatari mediators as soon as today. If the deal materializes it will be the biggest diplomatic breakthrough since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell Axios that as part of the hostage deal Israel would release three Palestinian prisoners held in Israel for each Israeli hostage released by Hamas.

In the first phase of the two-phase deal, Hamas is expected to release 50 Israeli women and children held in Gaza, while Israel is expected to release around 150 Palestinian prisoners, mostly women and minors. Some of the Israeli hostages are dual citizens.

The release of hostages and prisoners in the first phase of the deal would take place over four days of ceasefire in Gaza.

As part of the deal, Israel would allow around 300 aid trucks per day to enter Gaza from Egypt.

In a second phase, Hamas could release up to another 50 Israeli hostages - women, children and elderly people - in return for extending the ceasefire by several more days. Israel would also release Palestinian prisoners at the same 3:1 ratio to the number of hostages freed.

More than 240 people, including several Americans, were abducted during the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack. ]

News reporting has the Palestinian death count at some 13,000.

Revenge-bent Israel continues its invasion...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Hallelujah"...

ELECTIONS:...McAllen Sun Projects Mayra Flores Easily The Winner Of Republican Primary Vote...The Fiery 37-Year-Old Edges Out Weaker Trio...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | The noise is there. Her support has not waivered. She expects to win. Mayra Flores, the 37-year-old stunner on the Republican Party scene, is still there, still vigorously chasing a return to the nation's capital as a congresswoman for the 34th Congressional District.

We at The McAllen Sun confidently predict she will win her party's 2024 nomination handily.

No runoff for Mayra, is the rallying cry these days. And that alone will carry her to victory...and to a second brawl against Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in the General Election next November. There is little doubt among her troops.

Mayra Flores is being backed financially by the deep-pockets Republican National Committee. That is telling, as any first-year political science student would tell you. Headier pros go a step further and say she will win her primary and win her battle with Gonzalez, a formidable foe, but one vulnerable - if only because of their differences in public personality.

Miss Flores is a bar brawler; Gonzalez is a more-reserved, sort of Old School politician not quick to anger or to let-go some hellfire damnation, as the vociferous Miss Flores tends to do from time to time.

It says here that she will swamp party opponents Dr. Laura E. Cisneros (a lifelong Democrat until late last year), Vato-At-Large Mauro Garza (from Raymondville) and lackluster greenhorn Greg Kunkle, perhaps the weakest candidate in all Rio Grande Valley races.

Mayra Flores served a 6-month stint in Congress after winning a Special Election against unenthused Democrat Dan Sanchez in mid-2022. She lost the General Election vote later that same year to Democrat Gonzalez 

The party primary is scheduled for next Spring.

As for the eventual meaningful contest, we at this point rate the Flores vs. Gonzalez match a toss-up...

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THE VISITOR:...Oft-Indicted Donald J. Trump Drops In On The Rio Grande Valley...Tough Guy Talk...Is Then Endorsed In Banal Remarks By Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

EDINBURG, Texas | An old man came to town on Sunday afternoon. He said he's running for president, but he didn't meet the people of the Rio Grande Valley - only fawning law enforcement types.

Yes, 77-year-old Donald John Trump, the same Trump under four indictments and the same one facing 91 felony charges in connection with a slew of events that include that insurrection at the nation's capital, his whisking away boxes of secret documents after he left the White House in defeat three years ago and, well, that juicy case in Georgia, where he is accused of doing his damndest to overturn the 2020 presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

It was his fourth visit to the Rio Grande Valley and the umpteenth time he said he's going to go hard on illegal immigration.

At his side was Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott would endorse Trump's 2024 campaign before the ex-New Yorker left town.

This on-spot bit from a report published in the McAllen Monitor: [ Trump is on stage circling through his usual talking points on the border while blaming Biden for just about everything, including wars going on around the world.]

The newspaper's coverage amounted to a reporter's observations of the goings-on. It was unclear why The Monitor reporter did not bother to ask Trump - or Abbott - any questions. Not one.

Abbott's endorsement was expected. He has been a Trumper for years now and, of course, has sort of patterned his governor's style after Trump's Talk Big schtick.

The visit was not open to the public.

It was just another staged event, as if that helps voters. But perhaps all they wanted was a "photo op," something shallow to make the morning newspapers...

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SOCIAL MEDIA:...Musk's "X," Formerly Known As Twitter, On The Ropes...His Dreams Of Killing It About Done...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Think the old Bird will fly? Well, it does look like Elon Musk's massive Starship indeed will fly, much higher than the experimental rocket flew on its second launch yesterday. Another of Elon's birds, however, may die on the launchpad.

We speak of X, the all-world social media platform once known as Twitter.

A steady stream of negative news reports have it that X is losing advertisers right and left, this because of his wild swing top far right politics - the last one being a dig at Jews.

This from axios.com. [ A growing number of X's biggest advertisers are pulling out, leaving the company's ad business in limbo. The move from several companies and organizations to pause ads on X, formerly Twitter, comes after owner Elon Musk backed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Civil rights groups have also reported a rise in antisemitism and hate speech on the platform.

Media Matters for America, a left-leaning non-profit, recently published a report identifying multiple companies whose ads on X appeared next to far-right posts.

X's CEO Linda Yaccarino said the company has been "extremely clear" about its "efforts to combat antisemitism and discrimination," per a statement Friday.

"There's absolutely no place for it anywhere in the world," Yaccarino added.

Yaccarino said X's "point of view has always been very clear that discrimination by everyone should STOP across the board," per an earlier statement Thursday.

An X executive told Axios on Thursday that the company "did a sweep on the accounts that Media Matters found and they will [no] longer be monetizable" and that the specific posts it highlighted will be labeled "Sensitive Media."

That hasn't stopped some of the site's major advertisers from pulling out.

Companies that have suspended their ads on X:

Apple: Sources told Axios' that the company was pausing its ads on X.

IBM: The company said Thursday in a statement shared with Axios that it "has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination, and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation."

Disney: A source confirmed to Axios on Friday that it would be pausing ads on X.

Comcast/NBCUniversal: Axios confirmed on Friday evening that Comcast is also pausing advertising on X.

Lions Gate Entertainment: A spokesperson for Lions Gate Entertainment confirmed to Axios that it would be pulling all advertising from X.

Warner Bros. Discovery: The company is also pausing its presence on X, per Variety on Friday. ]

Musk, meanwhile, is promising "thermonuclear lawsuits" against these companies.

Disclaimer: We never joined Twitter and really have no interest in looking at X as a possibility. These social media outfits tend to eventually posture themselves as yet some more partisan political hacks. Facebook is doing it, plus it is now selling so-called "clearance badges" to - ahem - essentially prove you're a human and not some robotoid.

It bores us, yes...

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SPACE FLIGHT:...Up, Up, Up, It Went. SpaceX's Rocket Ship Blasted-Off Nicely...Then, It Blew Up...Deemed A Success...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BOCA CHICA, Texas | Well, it went up, up and away. And then it blew up. SpaceX's massive, 33-engine rocket lifted off shortly after 8:00 AM, rose majestically and then, as it seemed to go into the beyond, was destroyed. No, it was not a manned flight.

Deemed a successful launch, the rocket ship nonetheless has its work still to be done before it can hope to fly American astronauts to the moon and to Mars, as promised.

This from the Associated Press: [ SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship but lost both the booster and the spacecraft in a pair of explosions minutes into Saturday’s test flight. The rocketship reached space following liftoff from South Texas, but communication suddenly was lost. SpaceX officials said it appears the ship’s self-destruct system blew it up over the Gulf of Mexico.

The flight came to an end as the ship’s engines were almost done firing to put it on an around-the-world path. The first test flight in April also ended in an explosion.

About three minutes into flight, the separated booster also exploded over the gulf. By then, though, its job was done. Despite the failure, the approximately eight-minute flight lasted twice as long as April’s test. At nearly 400 feet, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, with the goal of ferrying people to the moon and Mars.

"The real topping on the cake today, that successful liftoff," said SpaceX commentator John Insprucker.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk watched from behind launch controllers at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border, near Boca Chica Beach. At company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, employees cheered as Starship finally soared at daybreak. The room grew quiet once it was clear that the spaceship had been destroyed and crashed into the gulf. The booster also ended up in the gulf.

SpaceX had been aiming for an altitude of 150 miles, just high enough to send the bullet-shaped spacecraft around the globe before ditching into the Pacific near Hawaii about 90 minutes after liftoff, short of a full orbit. ]

It's yet another step in the overall mission.

We'll see where it goes from here...

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SPACE FLIGHT:...An Early Saturday Morning Blast-Off Awaits SpaceX's Launch...At About 8:00 AM...Woodstock-Like Crowd Expected...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BOCA CHICA, Texas | At 8:00 A.M or shortly thereafter today is when SpaceX plans to launch its powerful developmental rocket ship ahead of the company's plan to help land astronauts on the moon and on Mars.

Anticipation grows as a large, "Woodstock-like" crowd is expected to witness the liftoff.

If successful, the brief, unmanned flight will take the spaceship into sub-orbit and make a landing somewhere near Hawaii in the South Pacific, according to SpaceX honcho Elon Musk.

The experimental flight is one of many crucial tests in SpaceX's development campaign to build a fully reusable rocket capable of sending some 150 tons of satellites into space.

Originally scheduled for launch last September, the flight was delayed by a government review of SpaceX's launch last April, in which the rocket ship lifted off nicely, rose to several thousand feet and then was destroyed when it began to tumble end-over-end, portions of the rocket falling mostly into the Gulf of Mexico but also to areas inland.

A related problem came after that launch pretty much destroyed the launching pad, the ship's powerful 33 engines leaving major damage and a small debris field. SpaceX has said it has incorporated a water-spray mechanism that will help keep blast-off heat down this time.

At a hearing in Washington, D.C. recently, SpaceX administrators and engineers told the government it needed fast-track approval for this launch ASAP, as worries surfaced that Chinese plans for a base on the moon could succeed before the joint NASA/SpaceX mission set to ferry American astronauts to the moon's surface in early 2025 for the first time in 53 years.

Weather reports for the Saturday morning launch suggest the liftoff will likely occur on time...

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REPUBLICANS:...Fight City!!! ...Invited Witness Threatened With Punch-Out In Hallowed Halls Of U.S. Senate...We're A Third World Country Now...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Wow!!! Wild, dramatic threat of a fight in the U.S. Senate Chambers? Is this America, or what? An invited witness sat for testimony at a hearing this week in the hallowed venue and fiery, first-term U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma (shown in photo above) wanted to punch him out.

Hell-o, India.

Singapore. Panama. Venezuela. Places where political fisticuffs are expected.

Forget searching the Internet for crazy BBC and Reuters reports from abroad. We're getting the same drama live here now, thanks to the tempestuous national politics we seem to be favoring.

This from thehill.com: [ Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) weighed in on the near-fight in the Senate Tuesday, saying it "looked like a Third World country."

"When they’ve got to a fever pitch where they wanna fight, they’re calling each other names," Manchin said Thursday on Fox News. "It looked like a Third World country or a Banana Republic, and that’s not who we are."

Manchin was referencing a near-fight between Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, during a hearing Tuesday.

Mullin challenged O’Brien to a fight during the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing after he read aloud O’Brien’s posts calling him a "clown" and a "fraud."

"Sir, this is a time, this is place. You want to run your mouth; we can be two consenting adults; we can finish it here," Mullin said.

"You want to do it now? Stand your butt up then," Mullin said, in response to O’Brien’s acceptance.

He stood up to challenge O’Brien (shown at right in photo below, alongside Mullin) when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the panel, told the lawmaker to sit down and reminded him he was a U.S. senator.

Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, later defended his conduct by saying, "every now and then, you need to get punched in the face."

Tensions also rose in the House Tuesday when Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) alleged that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) elbowed him in the back.

Manchin, referring to the Tuesday incidents, said he thinks the behavior reflects poorly on the U.S. as it attempts to handle several tense foreign relations issues across the globe.

"We are the superpower of the world," Manchin said. "People are looking to us for leadership." ]

Uh, maybe not, Joe.

We, the U.S., seem to be coming apart at the seams. A sitting U.S. Senator calling out a "witness," offering an on-the-spot fistfight beating? Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker of The House going full-thug?

Geez, Louise. We used to see those brawling scenes out of India, the Far East and South America, always shaking our heads, laughing at the cheap theatrics of some politician - at times, a woman - getting slapped across the face or thrown to the floor.

Republicans have brought it here.

Fifty bucks says uncouth Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she of the apparent white trash, trailer park DNA, is the next one to cold-cock a rival... 

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REPUBLICANS:...What Have They Done Lately?!...Angry Texas Congressman Chip Roy Wants To Know...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Well, he's asking. Republican Congressman Charles Eugene "Chip" Roy, representing District 21 encompassing some of both Austin and San Antonio, seemed way off his cloud yesterday.

The 51-year-old congressman asked the sentient question: What has the GOP done lately?

This from newrepublic.com: [ Representative Roy went scorched earth on his Republican colleagues on Wednesday, haranguing them for years wasted on inaction and chaos as opposed to doing their jobs.

The Texas Republican and Freedom Caucus member spent his time on the House floor on Wednesday shouting and wildly gesticulating at his caucus, condemning them for capitulating on promises by working with Democrats and lamenting the party’s transparently vacuous approach to building a border wall.

"One thing. I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing. One. That I can go campaign on and say we did," Roy said. "One!" ]

There was no immediate response.

It's a damned good question. Best one of the week, we say.

Republicans in Congress - and our locals - have been good yappers. Often, they have tossed that same question at Democrats. It'll be interesting to see if there is an answer at some point today.

Don't hold your breath...

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VALLEY BUSINESS:...The City Of Palms Still Hustling For Dollars...It Is The Very Definition Of Progress For Mayor Javier Villalobos...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Yeah, leave it to the Rio Grande Valley's busiest mayor. Javier Villalobos, still in his first year as figurehead leader of The City of Palms, is always on the hunt for business. If it isn't Mexico next door, it's anywhere else in the world.

Here in the photo above, he is lauding the Asian connection.

From the mayor's busy Facebook page: [ Economic Development transcends our local region. Met with our friends from China, Tony Liu, MEDC far East Consultant, Zhi Li, President of China (Shenzhen) International Logistics and Supply Chain Fair, YanLing Zheng, General Secretary of Shenzhen Logisitics and Supply Chain Management Association, and of course our very own Keith Patridge and Laura Warren. #I❤️MCALLEN. ]

Villalobos has earned the title of Go-Getter.

Other valley mayors may be pushing local commerce, as is Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda, or doing little, as is new Brownsville Mayor John Cowen, but Villalobos, a traditional Republican, has been on the bring-more-business trail non-stop.

It's getting to where a daily looksee at his activities via his Facebook postings always yields info on yet another effort at expanding the city's business map.

Nothing wrong with that...

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SUN RECORDS:...Newsroom Jukebox..."Ice & Fire"...

SPORTS:...Texas A&M Fires Head Football Coach Jimbo Fisher...Agrees To Pay $75 Million In Obscene Buyout...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | He was the state's highest-paid employee with an annual salary of $9 million. Celebrated Jimbo Fisher is gone as head coach of Texas A&M, but he'll be fine.

Fired on Sunday, Fisher gets a $75 million buyout on his contract.

Not bad for a state employee at a state-funded university. The 58-year-old Fisher arrived at Aggieland with great promise six years ago. He leaves with an okay but mediocre 45-25 record during those half-dozen football campaigns.

By comparison, Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian's pay is listed this year at $5.6 million.

It does make you wonder where the Aggies will get the cash to pay Fisher off. Theoretically, head football coaches at major schools at times pay themselves by making it to and winning a major bowl game at season's end. A national championship will cover an annual salary, sometimes for several years.

This particular payout is obscene.

But the Aggies thought they had a winner when they hired Fisher off the same head coaching job at Florida State, where he had compiled an excellent 83-23 record.

Is there any blowback from the taxpaying citizenry?

Nope.

Hefty coach payoffs are common in the college sport, mostly because some schools get antsy about losing or annoying fans and boosters when not meeting winning expectations.

Texas legislators rarely mess with school sports, especially football. But they certainly could. They could set salary limits at state schools like the University of Texas or Texas A&M or Texas Tech. Texas and Texas A&M are wealthy schools in their own right, so perhaps they cover the payoffs.

It's still a hit when you have to pay a fired coach $75 million to get out of town.

There was some press coverage about the Fisher firing, and they did make mention of the large payoff. But nothing came from sheltered A&M administrators or regents. It was perhaps athletics business as usual, if an expensive day at the office/stadium.

Fisher's replacement has yet to be named.

Texas A&M will get a Big Time head football coach and pay him better than most. It will see about winning and if the next guy can't get it done, then that guy will also be fired.

Seventy-million dollars is a lot of cash. We're pretty sure coach Jimbo Fisher is okay with being fired.

Texas taxpayers should not be...

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TACO TUESDAY:...Grub At The Lonely Airport...Who is Zamir?... Melly...Little Hands Blogger Jimmy Barton...Fast Eddie Garcia...Letty Perez-Garzoria...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | Okay, how many of you farmworkers know that Brownsville has an airport? Raise your skinny arms and show me your hands, even if they're Trump-like "little hands," like secondhand information specialist Blogger Jim Barton's. Come on. Come on now. What - no hands?

Geez, Louise. What if you built an airport for commercial travel and nobody came?

Well, that's Brownsville, the most populated city in the Rio Grande Valley. It counts almost 200,000 fun-starved residents. Smaller Harlingen, a few miles to the west, has the region's busiest airport. Its population is barely 77,000.

What's wrong with that picture?

Everything. El Brownsville once served major airlines like Pan Am and Braniff. Today, it has a sprinkling of daily flights, but no damned rush by anyone to get out of town, which is what every taxpaying resident of this border town ought to do. How much has the city spent on improvements? Ands still no flights to major destinations, like Cancun? Paris? Rome? Laredo?

The photo you see above is of an empty space inside the renovated Brownsville airport terminal. It is being marketed to anyone wishing to open a restaurant at the local airport. Will a major eatery amble in? Will some local entrepreneur go for it?

I mean, hey, you'd have the overweight airport employees as steady customers.

The depressing space's deal is being promoted by slack-jaw District 2 City Commissioner Linda Macias, who opens her Youtube spiel on the deal with a very long-winded, totally-Border "Ahhhhlooooo-OH" before noting the positive, possibly money-making side of the empty space. Good luck, Linda.

This latest Casa De Nylon bun crib just doesn't do anything for the appetite, honeybun.

Burning Tacos at the airport may sound like a needed novelty to the thousands here who weekly flock to their neighborhood taquerias but would maybe want a change of scenery and different accompanying noise. Eh, Vatos Locos, let's trade gunfire for take-off noise!

"Three crispy tacos de pollo," you say as engines rev-out out on the tarmac.

Que wild!

Plus, Linda Lou, why name the street leading into and out of the airport after Amelia Earhart? I mean, homely cockpit hack Amelia got lost in the South Pacific and was never found! John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California is located on "Airport Way".

Paging Linda "Raton" Macias.

You have a call from Whataburger on Line 3...

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I miss Melissa Zamora. She was the only one who could summon me to Brownsville, and I'd be there in a jiffy. Sweet Melly was no artist or even "caricaturist," but she was a city commissioner and that meant for something in our Big Fat Book about Brownsville people.

Once, likely while extremely bored, the amateur caricaturist Nenny Barton, now dead 5 years, drew a cartoon of Melly and Melly did not like it. Nenny, no Basquiat, had drawn a wilting red flower in Melly's beautiful hair.

Melly being Melly, well, she drew the one you see above of Nenny, and signed it.

Wow, that almost sounds like the intro to Wooly Bully: Melly told Nenny, about a thing she saw...

You get it.

In any case, wouldn't it be just more wunnerful if we had both Melly and Nenny back with us? Yeah, what a wonderful world it would be, as aging-and-about-dead Peter Noone might say about here.

Nenny's death was followed by weird news that her husband, Jimmy Barton, had donated her body to science, and the last we heard, the beautiful Melissa was working for a public utilities company in San Antonio.

So, you see. I have nothing currently drawing me to the border town at the Gaping Sphincter of the Rio Grande.

I remember Melly asking a string of questions when we first met in Browntown. One was about whether I was working for a newspaper.

"No, I'm in citrus now," I told her, adding I was living in The City of Palms, known for its many, many, many, many orchards.

She wriggled in the manner pretty women wriggle, with all-out romantic abandon... 

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Who, pray tell is Dr. Asim Zamir (fleshy dude in red tie above), the medical man often featured but never explained on Elderly-About-Town Blogger Jerry McHale's "A Day With Missing Pieces" blog? Zamir can be found there on the Discount Blog alongside such neighborhood luminaries as Laura E. Cisneros, Tito Mata, Erasmo Castro, Ronnie Saenz, Bob Sanchez, Abelardo Gomez and, yesterday, even dead Omar Lucio, the former sheriff.

Jerry's geriatric absurdities are, of course, well-known and even expected.

This doesn't seem that absurd, but what's the connection with Zamir, or Zamir's connection with the blog, the city and the readership? We would venture to say that this obscure doctor is not a public figure, yet there he is included amongst a veritable who's who of local yokel politicians.

To us, Zamir actually looks like what we would envision Rigo Tovar to look like today were he still alive. Yes, the sadly deceased Matamoros crooner. This guy kinda, sorta looks like Rigo. Rigo with a bad haircut.

Perhaps El Paya Jerry (shown wearing bowling shirt in photo at right) will flesh Zamir out and tell us what the roadside attraction is with this dude. If only El Paya would fall out of his motel bed, bounce his head and shake the cobwebs off his lunch-bucket brain. He's 74 next month, btw - older than most horses and cars.

At his cemetery-ready age, McHale can be excused for whimsically believing that a literal smorgasbord of widows lay before him this entire year. Surprisingly hale, a few of those wrinkled Babes had undergone spiritual tune-ups with the departure of their husbands and, according to El Paya Jerry, had become wonderful, even sexually creative company. We'll leave the imagery to your imagination.

As for Dr. Zamir, well, there has to be a story there, Paya.

Tell it, son. Is he your doctor, your ex-wife's doctor, your son's doctor. Every however-small character fills a place in any given story.

Fans in the balcony are asking: Quien es Zamir?...

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Ah, ese Eddie Garcia! The schoolboard trustee may only look like a "Loser At Love," for rumors move across town and the blogs that he has had more than his share of what we used to call "winter clothing" during our frigid Fall Semesters in college.

Eddie was postured front-center by Pro-Mexicans Blogger Juan Montoya this week on grounds that the BISD Trustee had for some damned-crazy reason men know as pussy promised a woman a job in exchange for, well, Juan didn't quiet say. A job, maybe?

But, as with all cheap-ass mystery novels, Eddie Garcia reportedly fell back on his promise and the unidentified woman first balked and them neighed. All who heard her heard the beginnings of a ribald tale of sorts. Perhaps we'll get to the finer, more-scintillating details next, eh, Juan?

Anyway, Fast Eddie Garcia is a candidate for the job of county tax assessor, only it may just be that he'll bail on that one too, if bad-shitty publicity still makes a real man reassess his political ass and seek redemption from the church.

We cannot tell you who the woman with Eddie in the photo above is, however. If fleshy, jowlsy Dairy Necks are a clue, Eddie Garcia looks happy to be with this pleasant-looking sweetheart, yes.

The long, hard history of Brownsville tells us it is dudes who have mistreated, hit, abused, lied to and in general been assholes to women that are the real fucked-up Border Bandits - Not Juan N. Cortina, a man who alternative border lore has it knew how to treat his big nalgas Babes.

Mexican-looking, high school hallway lothario Eddie "Soy De San Luis" Garcia appears to be one of those gents not exactly in the Best-of-Vatos molds, but still excellent at remorseless repartee...

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Alex Dominguez seems to be back in the political arena (...I almost wrote political enema). Why, is the question. He wants to be a state rep once again, after being one for a few years not that long ago and leaving the job for a failed run at the Texas Senate.

Get lost, Dominguez! You give politics a bad name, to paraphrase Jon Bon Jovi.

You bald quitter. Quit your quitting and quit your stupid personal games. What - being a Nobody saddened you? What did you ever do the first time you found yourself at the State Legislature in Austin? Why, some of the local bloggers were labeling you a wildly-successful rep! If only!! Oh, there were a few pieces of minor legislation you got across the line, but nothing freakin' half-ass memorable.

Go back to La Feria, lad.

You've miscalculated: This is not the Era of Rethreads.    

We need do'ers and representatives out to aid the valley and not themselves. We need loud voices and dudes able to arm tackle and horse collar the strong Republican opposition upstate. We need rough play, ese. Targeting specialists, yes.

Sorry, cowboy.

But you don't fit the prototype for today's game, Alex. And don't do the pathetic, totally expected and sign-on with the starving bloggers to push your unwanted, unnecessary campaign, for that will identify you even more as being nothing but a Barrio Patsy. We've had it with candidates who bring their campaigns personalized with the smells of chicken plates and rice & beans.

You are the sort of politician arriving in unsurpassed bleakness, at a time when the landscape of your failures seems almost to afford politics a dismal glamour...

-0- 

He's supposedly headed back to Brownsville after a time in pig-smelling Iowa. That would be one Jimmy Boy Barton, shown in photo above with wife Nenny. "Little Hands" Barton rode Texas Southmost College pretty hard all summer.

Something dark and foreboding and still unresolved about the college's welding program was at the lower colon of his blog almost daily. Joined at the hip by feller Blogger Jerry "El Paya" McHale, Barton typed away like a drug-addled woodpecker for weeks, only to see the story fizzle in the humiliating manner of an old man's premature ejaculation.

Both of them, it is said, tinkled with excitement...in the same cracked cantina urinal.

There's been not a word about the college since these two Word Pushers petered out a month ago. But, man, they were like crazed fire ants evicted from the mound. TSC, its welding program and administrators were hounded for weeks by unemployed, house husband Barton.

Then, his story went whoooooooooooosh. Neighbors heard it blast out of the proverbial outhouse like a fattened avocado sandwich fart, right through the half-moon-shaped window, never to be heard from again. Little Hands Barton (He ragged Trump about his little hands, btw) stopped typing. He'd failed at bringing down the popular little city college and again felt the old familiar pain of working the graveyard shift at that cheap motel.

Recently, Barty changed his blog's slogan from the "human nature" behind the news to "Have Nurse Wife, Will Travel." Of course, we sent him a note, changing it to its rightful place: "Have Nurse Wife, Will Eat." 

Then, Maria, the girthy, Dairy Neck Barton attempted to include dummy conscientious objectors in the honoring of veterans on our annual Veterans Day last week. Talk about a tone-deaf fucker.

We bitched back at him in several of our stories, our anger rising out of knowledge that Sad Sack Barton did not serve in the military, and we suspect he actually was a conscientious objector himself.

That misguided lunkhead won't say, but he should...

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We have been repeatedly asked about a possible worthy opponent for head-strong Republican Mayra Flores in the upcoming, much-anticipated 34th Congressional District race...and we have a name!

Letty Perez-Garzoria.

A Mayra vs. Letty knockdown/drag out would be malarious!

We all know Letty also is a pro-Trump backer, and we know of her vigorous style on the campaign trail, and we know there's an age-difference there, and we know age-differences between Mexican women always bring on some real brawling lulus.

Let's get it on! En esta esquina!!!

But we're only dreaming on this one. Mayra is pretty much holding the Republican nomination in her itching hands, and Letty is likely not even interested. What a pity.

Mayra has three opponents in the party primary, only all three of them are Losers At The Starting Blocks - raw rookie Laura E. Cisneros, The Big Nothing Greg Kunkle and Vato-at-Large Mauro Garza, all just another cover band Peter, Paul and Almond Trio.

But, hey, if any of you get word that Perez-Garzoria has entered the fray, well, do let us know and there'll be a quick $10 gift card to Taco Bell for you and your girlfriend. Posthaste, yes.

Rapido, rapido!!!...

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Taco Tuesday out...

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WAR:...Giddy Israel Now Bent On Vile Ethnic Cleansing And Genocide In Gaza...More than 11,000 Dead...No Ceasefire, No Retreat, Says Netanyahu...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Jews are giddy. Israel was attacked by terrorists last October 7 and there came the one opportunity it needed to rid itself of Palestinians once and for all. Strike back at Gaza and strike often, with the best weapons Americans can provide.

That's one image hanging on as the so-called war against Hamas terrorists continues in America's Middle East military base. That's what Israel is to planners at the Pentagon, a sand-bound aircraft carrier in the touchy, ever-antsy Middle East - hence the Ultra BIG BUCKS $3.31 billion Israel gets in foreign aid from the U.S.

Also included in that pro-Israel largesse is $100 billion more proposed recently by the Joe Biden Administration.

Without the Israelis, the U.S. would have to go BIG on soldier and weaponry deployment in a region where hate for America is strong.

So far, more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's all-out assault on its neighbors. There will be no ceasefire, no withdrawal anytime soon, is what Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said over the weekend.

There remains much support in the U.S. for the Israeli military response, but reaction across the world - especially in Europe - is fast moving against the Israelis. Calls by the United Nations, of which the U.S. and Israel are members, have gone unheeded by the Jews.

It is now also being labeled genocide and ethnic cleansing.

On most other occasions (World War II, in Germany), the U.S. would be at the forefront of both criticism and anger at such action, but not this time. Most Americans are siding with Israel, ignoring the damning accusations.

And it's hard to see what the U.S. can do other than call for a ceasefire and allow humanitarian aid into war-torn Gaza, to hospitals and schools especially. American President Biden has asked Israel to exert more caution in its assault of Gaza City, for example, where the civilian death count continues to spiral. As yet, to no avail, we should add.

When will it end?

When Israel believes it has killed every Palestinian in Gaza, is our learned response.

You'd have to dig through libraries and libraries of military history to find another time when the U.S. stood by while another country was bombed off the map of the world. We waited perhaps a bit too long to save Jews from the Nazis in WWII, but Ethnic cleansing took us into Kosovo during the Clinton administration of the 1990s.

It's not happening in this case.

May God have mercy on us...

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REPUBLICANS:...Scott Bows Out Of GOP 2024 Presidential Run...Campaign Flailed For Months...He's Not Endorsing Anyone Else Yet...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | In the bitter end, he discovered there was no ground to win. Tim Scott dropped out of the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination race yesterday. The U.S. Senator from South Carolina managed barely enough votes to make the GOP's first three debates, but the bad writing was on the wall, as they say in political graffiti.

There was an early surge and some talk that the 58-year-old Scott was finding a footing in the contest. That, however, faded as the year came to an end.

This from axios.com: [ Scott announced Sunday that he is suspending his 2024 presidential campaign. His surprise announcement comes after he spent aggressively during his campaign, but struggled to rise in the polls in the crowded 2024 primary.

"When I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign," he said in an interview on Fox News.

"I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they're telling me: not now," Scott said. ]

Scott held short on any endorsement of the remaining candidates.

His campaign, like that of the other pretenders, was sort of stalled by recognition of Donald J. Trump's frontrunner standing with Republican voters and the party.

Left in the debate fray are former South Carolina Gov. Nimarata "Nikki" Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Their next debate is schedule for next month in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Trump has not participated in any of the events so far, and odds are good that he will skip the next - and last- one before the Iowa Caucus in mid-January.

National polls show Trump well ahead of the pack...

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SUNDAY SERMON:...Radical Catholic Bishop Joe Strickland Ousted...Pope Francis Forcibly Removes Him...Cites Ceaseless Criticism Of The Vatican...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It was a rare public put-down from The Vatican, but Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, shown in photo above, is out of a job. Angered Pope Francis forcibly removed him yesterday, citing Strickland's proactive politics.

A social media priest, especially an ultra-conservative like this one who had been critical of the Pope's positions on a variety of issues, was not going to stand.

This from The Associated Press: [ Pope Francis on Saturday ordered the removal of the bishop of Tyler, Texas, a conservative prelate active on social media who has been a fierce critic of the pontiff and has come to symbolize the polarization within the U.S. Catholic hierarchy.

A one-line statement from the Vatican said Francis had "relieved" Bishop Strickland of the pastoral governance of Tyler and appointed the bishop of Austin as the temporary administrator.

Strickland, 65, has emerged as a leading critic of Francis, accusing him in a tweet earlier this year of "undermining the deposit of faith." He has been particularly critical of Francis’ recent meeting on the future of the Catholic Church during which hot-button issues were discussed, including ways to better welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics.

Earlier this year, the Vatican sent in investigators to look into his governance of the diocese, amid reports that priests and laypeople in Tyler had complained and that he was making unorthodox claims.]

Strickland was asked to resign last November, but he refused.

Removal of Catholic Bishops is extremely rare.

The vocal Strickland had repeatedly pushed against the Pope on a number of social issues, usually taking the conservative approach frowned upon by the church. Indeed, much of what Bishop Strickland was writing on social media mirrored positions currently taken by right-wingers in the Republican Party.

On his removal, the unrepentant Strickland said: "I really can't look to any reason except I've threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the gospel."

Strickland's very public removal has drawn support from former ever-battling Congressman Louie Gohmert, the far, far, far right-wing politician. Gohmert posted this on his X account: "Unfortunately, this seems to indicate the Pope is staunchly AGAINST a Bishop who follows Jesus example by saying "go & sin no more," & is FOR eliminating what the Bible says is sin. Does this prove no one’s perfect?"

More blowback is expected from the region's conservative population.

Perhaps an outbound march by some in the Tyler flock...

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VETERANS DAY:...Today Is For Thanking Veterans...Not For Praising Conscientious Objectors...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | He didn't serve and won't say why not. Cowardly, we know. Again, we speak badly of elderly Blogger Jim Barton, who yesterday "observed" Veterans Day by equating military service to his apparently beloved Conscientious Objectors, who did NOT serve.

The 75-year-old largely uneducated Barton, shown in photo above, even cavalierly posted a photo of acclaimed boxer Muhammad Ali (see it below) to make his point. Ali was a Conscientious Objector during the Vietnam Conflict. That had much to do at the time with Ali - formerly Cassius Clay - aligning with Nation of Islam bullshitter Louis Farrakhan, who also never served.

"In essence, they may be doing almost the same thing as the soldier on the battlefield, just choosing a different battlefield," wrote the pitiful Barton, without laughing.

If the Conscientious Objectors had a "battlefield," it was in their crying, "Mama, I don't want to go!" brains. They were around during the Vietnam draft, but never at the draft board or at the enlistment centers for the respective branches of the U.S. military. Never in uniform, however.

They cried it loudly, "We object to the war!" And then they said it was a "religious" opposition. Those trudging off to serve could only shake their heads and frown at the losers. I remember.

And then they ran off to Canada or sat down to file paperwork tying their refusal to serve to handy religious outs.

Barton did not serve. He was definitely of draft age in the 1960s, but he didn't serve.

He's been asked repeatedly by us to explain why not, but he declines at every turn. This posting on the Conscientious Objectors perhaps is the clue - he was one?

We say, "Just say it, dude."

If you fully believe that it was fine to be a Conscientious Objector, then stand by it like a man, not some wishy-washy hangdog-eye loser who is still ashamed of having not served. Interestingly, his ex-wife Nenny did serve. She died in April of 2018, but she went off having served in the U.S. Army.

On his comatose blog, Slothy Barton is very often critical of do'ers - public servants, politicians and anyone who may himself or herself in the news. With no military service or college education to his name, he really should just shut the fuck up. Looking inward may resolve his issues, it says here.

Today is officially Veterans Day.

Flags will fly and festivities will honor those who served.

There is NONE of that for Conscientious Objectors.

They objected, after all - objected to serving the same country so many others served. You would think that it would be clear to him that someone has to serve.

For some damned stupid reason, House Husband Blogger Barton grants Conscientious Objectors too great a standing.

And he does it by lowering the value of the service veterans willingly provided to their country - the same one he so readily enjoyed for those seven freakin' decades of Mickey D burgers & fries. Apologize, lad. You're so wrong.

Look at him in the photo atop this posting. That's the face of a clown who will diss veterans.

How brave...

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VETERANS DAY:...The Country Shows Its Proper Appreciation...Not Every American Serves...Honor Those Who Did...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

HARLINGEN, Texas | It's a small community gesture, but one aimed at the right place. This mid-valley city yesterday unveiled signage noting special parking spots for its many veterans. Mayor Norma Sepulveda seems to be behind many of her city's improvements and tributes.

And it's in keeping with today being the day we observe Veterans Day in this country, even as your calendar says tomorrow is the official day to honor those who served the U.S. military.

We're sure other Valley cities will also join in the celebratory festivities, if we can ever use that word in the same sentence with anything military.

But, sure, serving the country isn't necessarily only about loading weaponry and going to battle and war, to kill and be in harm's way. Many, many veterans serve far from those dangers.

We honor those who fought, but also those who served.

I know, I know. Veterans here could park their vehicles pretty much anywhere they wished, but it's always nice to bring special attention to those who have volunteered to aid the country. There are many, many Americans who do not serve, for a variety of reasons, some good and some disgusting.

Veterans did, and, for their service, they should be singled out for praise and attention on this one particular day.

It's the least a grateful nation can do...

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[ADDED NOTE:...The Editor of this blog is a U.S. Navy veteran, having served four years as a Corpsman (Medic), two of those years with the U.S. Marines...]

SUN CHRISTMAS:...A Video For "Peace On Earth"...

THE AMERICAN HOUSE: ...Where Exactly Are We At Present...As Bad Off And As Fast-Fading, As Politicians Say?...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | To hear the loud, constant word coming daily from the political ballpark, local, state and national, is to be told the story of a country going to Hell. Everything is wrong with the U.S., and everything is getting worse.

Do you believe it?

Do you believe it just because it comes out of the mouth of a well-known politician?

Is our southern border as open as they say it is? Is abortion the total ruination of our society? Is Ukraine right and Russia wrong? Is the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza okay with you? Is that all about revenge, or so you know a bit more about the historical angle to that Middle East strife? All that is important, yet do you cede your brain to politicians when framing a position?

Americans are all over the place on these current issues. All of them are hot & heavy as we head into the 2024 General election.

Where a politician stands on the issue-of-the-day drives the news media. The news media reports what it wants to report to please their audience, but you're left to decide which media outlet to trust - not just trust for today, but trust for the long run.

Occasionally, I find myself in serious discussions on all of the above. At my breakfast restaurant here in town, the gents and ladies I hang out with love to talk the talk, as they say. I get (and give) opinions, as well. That's what discussion groups do.

But I also meddle in some friendly Facebook pages, especially if they engage their friends in topics of interest. One of those is former Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, who also served Texas as Secretary of State some eight years ago.

Yesterday, Mr. Cascos (shown in photo below) offered this: [ After watching the nationwide election results last night, Democrats had a good night. Abortion rights were strengthened in several states, the Virginia statehouse flipped from R to D, Kentucky (a Red state) the Democrat Governor retained his seat in spite of Trump's endorsement of his opponent. If this is any indication leading into 2024, Republicans better have a better plan, platform & strategy & this applies to local Republican races as well.

If we do not stop with the meaningless catchy phrases, polarizing rhetoric, & negative campaigning, there will be difficulty winning any races. A candidate bashing the opposition or other political party, without providing a viable, sustainable & pragmatic campaign will fail. Kitchen table politics....jobs, infrastructure, health care, education, public safety, border security should be the key issues, at least here in the Valley. Just my thoughts. ]

One of the smarter gents in my Wednesday morning Discussion Group has come around. As recently as a year ago, he was a devoted Republican. "The legal mess he fell into finally turned me off," he said. "Donald Trump is not the answer to the country's needs; he is now the problem we must overcome."

I hear some of that same sentiment elsewhere, and have been reading much about it in news reports, but I'm not yet convinced Trump is losing sleep over those who flee him. His so-called base is roughly 30% of the voting public, not enough to win a national election.

He lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden by some 7 million votes. This before he staged his noisy coup de Etat that was labeled a protest and then an insurrection in January 2021 ahead of Biden's inauguration.

We'll see where we go from here.

I'm buoyed by what some of our thoughtful conservative news pundits are writing these days. It's a surprise to read about Trump as a problem in The Wall Street Journal, but there they are every so often. Same for The New York Post and The Washington Examiner.

I'm not so sure Trump has a path to the White House, no.

Americans are easy to manipulate by politicians, especially the back home ones who promise, promise and promise. Of course, we all like to think that the country is one to be protected, and that our national politicians will do just that.

They haven't lately.

But that's the premise of nationality...

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DEBATES:...Long, Long Night For Animals...Nikki Haley Calls Vivek "Scum"...DeSantis Says Trump Is Yesterday...A Nation Sighs...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | As debates go, this one was a bit more excitable than the first two. Republicans can get easily angry in private, and, yes, they seem to be way better at it in public lately, but it is in rare moments when they must go for each other's throats that we see them for who and what they really are.

Debate III last night for Republican Party 2024 nomination hopefuls was the Ol' family knockdown-drag out.

It peaked with ex-South Carolina Gov. Nimarata "Nikki" Haley, but the other calico cats also chimed in with a few of their digs.

This moment from 51-year-old Haley, after a brief exchange on abortion as a political issue, from politico.com: [ "I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice," Haley said at one point. The others on the stage took their turns trying to trip her up, going after her on political, policy and even personal matters. At one point, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy attacked her for criticizing TikTok even as her daughter was once on the app.

"You’re just scum," Haley replied. ]

Ramaswamy, at 37, is the youngest and glibbest of the remaining five candidates (not counting oft-indicted Donald J. Trump, the Republican Party's criminal favorite).

Haley was described as a "female Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels."

She fired back that they were 5-inch.

It went on a bit like this on matters to do with immigration, the war in Ukraine, the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the whereabouts of no-show Trump. Fighting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, polling best among these wannabes, openly said Trump "is not the guy he was in 2016 (when he won)," seeming to want to segue into saying Trump cannot win the 2024 General Election against incumbent Democrat Joe Biden.

The others - former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott - had their own moments, but both looked as if two dudes at the wrong party.

Scott's "girlfriend," a woman some pundits said may not exist, does, as news reports have it. It's a strange time we live in, so that piece of information filling out Scott's candidacy appeared to be important. Mindy Noce is the galpal's name, a lanky, hawk-nose white chick.

The "debate" was the last one of the season.

It's on to the primaries, with the Iowa Caucus next January 15 being the first test...

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REPUBLICANS:...Surprise!... Blogger Jim Barton Has Tiny Hands...Didn't He Rag Trump About His?...Yes, He Did!!!...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas | He's the one forever ragging on Republican Donald J. Trump. Yeah, the dairy neck dude you see in photo above. Oh, he's also been ragging us at The McAllen Sun, but we're immune to his pedestrian attacks.

Jim Barton is his name.

He's a backbench, low-readership Brownsville blogger, the only one without a college education (no degree) and the only who has ever donated a dead wife to science.

Yesterday, the 75-year-old posted this photo alongside a lame story about the age of 75 being "the new 55." Yeah. We're still laughing. He damned sure looks a few months past 75 to us, and we're usually pretty sympathetic to the dreams of our elderly citizens.

But - damn! - we also noticed that this guy has "tiny hands." Yeah, like Trump (see photo below), the one Barton earlier mocked for having "tiny hands." How can that be? A blogger criticizing someone else's small hands when his own are also small?

It happened yesterday on Jim Barton's comatose blog, and it likely is still there, unless he deleted the silly story and weird photograph. A very insecure man, Barton tends to do that when his stories don't work out, like when he blows it and has to remove it ASAP.

It is just a stunning development to see Barton with such smallish hands. He needs to trim his nails, but maybe he doesn't so that his fingers will look longer. You think?

Yeah, what else are we supposed to think?

Look at Trump's hands in the photo and then look at Barton's hands in the photo atop this post. It is uncanny. The similarity is convicting.

We do not want to ever again hear Barton ragging on Trump's tiny hands. What a hypocrite!

And what's next - chubby Barton's weight same as Trump's? Barton's fattened neck, common in most 75-year-old men, is a freakin' rugby football! Look at Trump's neck! Yikes!!!

Unemployed House Husband Barton, formerly a motel clerk and a shrimp boat unloader at the Port of Brownsville, keeps posting and posting and posting denigrating photoshopped "art" of yours truly on his silly Laundromat Bulletin Board blog, so, okay, this could just be us balancing the competitive ledger. Heady News organizations worth their weight in salt are never friendly with the competition.  

Tiny hands...poor guy...poor wife...

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