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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

This will not end nicely.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

In name only.

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

It would seem so.

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

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

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

INOS are taking it up the wazoo and not complaining.  

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

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

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

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

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

One would think so.

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

What is a caucus?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Send in the clowns...

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

Red Wave.

Blue Wave.

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

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

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

De La Cruz is favored.

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

Both races will be watched closely by the respective parties.

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

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

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

The scoffing has faded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

Not happening in the seven ponds or in our politics.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's the game of the year, Baby.

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

Yeah. Cool stories all.

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

Good Americans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, we can say it happens.

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

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

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

 

STAFF REPORT

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

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

See you next week!...

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who else, Donald?

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

Anyone else in the blurry picture?

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

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

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

He found one.

Fighting "woke" and Woke People.

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

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

It's a wonderment, yes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

If only!

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

He's going to fight wokeness?

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

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

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

This morning, Daniel Cameron is still Black...

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

No way, she said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rosie's still here...

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-30-    

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

It's about winning, isn't it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bigger story is her continued strength.

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

Old is old.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Should we care?

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

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

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

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

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TACO TUESDAY:...Dim-Bulb Blogger Labels Himself An Iconoclast...The Odd Face Of Jonathan Gracia...Ronnie Still At It...Mayra Hates Juan...The Dogs of Pat Ahumada...Joey...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...It's been a tough year for bloggers here, their days heavy with grief, fatalism and defeat. Readership for all, they will tell you via self-aggrandizing posts, is on the rise, although they lie so often that one could be forgiven for saying it.

Blogging is largely dead these days. It's too-yesteryear, would be our early-morning assessment, even as we sort of participate in the online game ourselves. Hey, yeah, we're out to make some noise, hopefully intelligent noise we say is missing from local discourse.

If you look at local blogging as entertainment and not news, well, it does make one laugh.

Our target today is 74-year-old blogger Jerry McHale, shown in 10-year-old photo above. He is a writer if you believe that when he writes it on his dying blog over and over and over and over - as if to convince himself and not the reader.

Take this, from a posting he offered yesterday: "By nature, I am a bohemian, a non-conformist, anti-materialistic, a rabblerouser and an iconoclast."

He was a lowly (ESL, mainly) schoolteacher for some 35 years! That's a bohemian? A non-conformist? He married three times and had a home and children. A rabblerouser? Maybe 30/40 years ago. He's nothing of the sort these days. Aging fast and hanging on with Maalox.

An iconoclast? He likes the word, but, well, as the word is defined, "......the iconoclast nomenclature can really only be bestowed on you by others and only with some degree of retrospect."

Elderly Blogger McHale (shown wearing birdshit-blue shirt in recent photo at right) labels himself an iconoclast, clearly because no one else will do it or has done it. It only shows his insecurities. The cat is a retired schoolteacher living out his string and nothing more!

Writer? He's written nothing of note or lasting value. His "border" novels are best suited for anecdotal mention on the feces-stained walls of local outhouses.

What he really means to say is that he is a typist, someone with a laptop who has tried writing a book but has never done it for the marketplace. McHale's so-called books - available only at Amazon and not commercial bookstore like Barnes & Noble, the real writer's outlet, are self-published nothingness. The odds of anyone in Brownsville buying one are likely astronomical.

We'd go a step further and say none of his sons has ever read one, much less bought a copy of his "vato-gets-drunk-chases-women-speaks-spanglish" novels.

But he does make us laugh.

Poor dude. Living out his life fashioning himself as something he is not...

Oh, I almost forgot:...I am an avant-garde writer.

HA HA HA HA HA...AHA HA HA HA HA... 

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The gent in the photo above is running for some office. We'd look it up and tell you which one, but that would be granting him certain standing. His name is Jonathan Gracia, however, and we mention him here this week only because we wanted to give him a little push.

No one's heard of him!

Oh, well, voters will decide his political fate. We're just sort of chiming-in on his longshot bid for office, whatever office that may be. State rep., is it? Perhaps. Only, who cares. Politically, Gracia is a nobody. What's he ever done to set himself apart from every blue jeans aspirant out there?

Get a cowboy hat and be mistaken for a sheriff candidate, lad. That and a mustache should get you 10/15 votes to run the jail.

We're big on looks, so we'll just say that this Jonathan has an odd face. The fleshier, almost bigger bottom half looks out of place there with his upper half, like it was molded out of clay. Who knows what voters will see in that, if anything.

They can be fickle, as we all know.

In any case, Jonathan Livingston Gracia should make the seagull as his campaign mascot. You know what they say about them: A gull sees farthest that flies highest.

But, yeah, who cares about this candidate?

We at The McAllen Sun would only back him in a race against Charles "Tadpole" Hasse," cause then Jonathan would win since Hasse has never won a bid for office, has he?

Good luck, Jonathan. You'll need lots and lots of it...

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Ronnie is still in the sheriff's race. That's him coming around the turn in that noisy 1958 Oldsmobile, nine laps behind incumbent Sheriff Eric Garza and just ahead of second pretender Jesus Rosas Jr. Eight laps behind Rosas is some candidate named Trevino, the forgotten candidate who came in from the cold and never had a chance.

Ronnie Saenz, shown pressing the flesh with two voters in photo above, believes he'll be the next Cameron County Sheriff, La Ley Del Condado. He's the only one, however. Boring Ronnie is given no chance of winning, his own camp wondering why he keeps throwing money away on local bloggers pushing his doomed campaign.

Hey, $20 is $20...and as they say here when speaking about better-heeled residents in McAllen upriver, $20 here is $10 there! Yikes, tamale breath. Put that cash back in your wallet. That's cash going down the drain, ese.

Ronnie not listening.

He'll lose the election, shrug his shoulders and go on to a burger & fries life...

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The Brown Blogger has it in for Mayra "Miss Excitement" Flores, our Republican candidate for the 34th Congressional District seat held by Demo Diva Vicente Gonzalez. Why, Juan, what did she ever do to you? That Juan, what a card. He isn't the news reporter he used to be (now using stories from the San Benito News on his fading blog), so we figure he uses Mayra to spice up his day just a bit.

It used to be a Bohemia with this guy, but, well, he isn't writing much about his beloved 14th Street Cantinas anymore.

Leave her be, ese.

Pro-Mexicans Blogger Juan Montoya (shown at right) is not being very Mexican as things concern Mayra Flores. Perhaps we'll slip her a generous contribution so that she can buy an Ad on Juan's gasping blog - TuAbuela.com - and get a change of heart from the Old Jarhead.

We like fairness. Tough, bitching fairness but fairness, yeah.

Montoya looks and is too rigid a dude. Maybe it's his face, or that odd, farmworker-like body of his. Who knows, I know. It could be a myriad of things with that cat.

Mayra will show up for the Pay-Per-View wrestling match against Lost Gonzo Gonzalez in the November Election, and she'll show Juan a thing or two about bold Mexican women. She's a fighter with a big mouth, something that perhaps Montoya does not like in women.

Machismo Journalism is alive and kicking in Brownsville...

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Has anyone seen or heard from former Mayor Pat Ahumada? Geez, Louise. He was just here the other month, throwing out MAGA crap all over the Facebook stage, like some dude unable to decide if he was a politician or a comedian.

Pat should keep on chooglin'.

The only mayor to ever side by the stray dog cannot simply fade away. He has thoughts coming out of his ears! We know, 'cause we've heard him pontificate on a whole lot of lot. Pat Ahumada always had an opinion. Some he stayed true to, some he purposely misplaced.

But that's all politicians, isn't it? Has anyone heard a damn thing from new City Commissioner Tino Villarreal? He was all gung-ho during and soon after the election, but has gone todo turtle. That's him in that shell, officer!

Whatever. We can do without the arrogant Tino, but Pat Ahumada needs to make a Return of The Lone Ranger entrance one more time. His stuff is needed by all local bloggers. They are about to get off the Holiday couch and start slinging shit again as 2024 dawns.

And all that barking at night in the barrios?

Those are local dogs wondering where Pat Ahumada went...

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I met La Chula at a McAllen bar in the days before New Year's Eve. She was hot; I was getting there. Something about a Mexican woman with an arrogant back, and this one had one. Watching her walk into the bar had been eye-opening. Seeing her approach and take a stool at the bar served as my dessert.

An attractive Babe in a black dress at year's end does something to me.

Her name was Linda, which she was. I introduced myself as an iconoclast and she smiled the sort of smile you get at bus stations and airports when someone you meet is going somewhere you are not. Goodbye, sweetheart. Look for me on Facebook, doll.

Anyway, we hit it off nicely and promised to meet at Starbucks on New Year's Eve before heading out to some partying joint. That turned out to be three bars we hit before the night was over. This one, I told myself early-on in the date, needs noise, needs a crowd, needs bright lights, needs love.

She's now with me, if I can say that.

And that's something, 'cause I don't just give away entry to my apartment to any old broad. Well, maybe sometimes, when the moths are on the wing, as the poet once wrote about sexual healing.

2024? So far, so good. Wish me continued happiness, as that will mean a happier blog and less attacks on Brownsville bloggers.

Women have that effect on men...

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Name this clown. He's a squirrely dude serving the folks of Cameron County in some political capacity, only he hasn't done squat since being elected. Well, other than go along on a suggestion that his salary be raised.

Ah, Hell. We'll tell you who he is.

That's County Commissioner Joey Lopez, a grown man going by Joey.

He's apparently a public servant without a public, as his contribution to the betterment of area life has been minimal. Well, okay, non-existent!

Joey Lopez may as well be a ghost of sorts. He's nowhere and likes it that way.

Someone tell him there's nothing wrong with the name Jose Lopez.

Not in Brownsville, Texas, home of some 45,000 Joses...

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One and done. Those high-flying Texas Longhorns saw their season end on a losing note last night in New Orleans. 37-31 was the final score. 

A season of steady good play lost its shine against the rough, tough and undefeated Washington Huskies in Game 2 of yesterday's first round of the 4-team playoffs. Michigan whipped Alabama 27-20 in the first game.

It's Washington against Michigan in the Finals!

I mean, if your care. Texas ended at 12-2 in yet another disappointing finale to a much-ballyhooed season. The Horns will regroup and live to play football another day, is what Head Coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters after the game at the Superdome. That word. Regroup. It's been there at the end of each season for the past - what? - 12 years.

College football, with an exceptional game here and there, has become a drag.

Bring on the pros...

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TACO TUESDAY out...

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THE HOWLING:...Trump Story Is Mainly A "Whites" Story...Hispanics Not In The Cast...No Featured, Speaking Roles...No Standing...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Cable television features a load of talking-head shows daily, all of them dependent on politicians for input and analysis of the Trump Story. Radio for overland truckers and rural America is full of right-wing hosts spinning everything from Trump's trials to his chances in the November election.

It is a literal whirlwind of news and information cutting a path from coast to coast as if a national tornado. You can tune-in and get the latest in news, rumors and threats.  

Hispanics are not part of that.

The Donald J. Trump Story is a story by and for White Americans. They are well-represented in the reporting of the news and the digestion of the latest tidbit, whether about Trump's trials or his candidacy for the White House.

Mostly, almost exclusively, it is White people and politicians moving the conversation here and there, angles dependent on political leanings.

We wonder why that is. Why no Hispanic on the talk shows dishing one way or the other on Trump and his problems, his danger.

There are not many in Congress, but those few Hispanics appear to have taken shelter rather than be out front with the noisemakers.

Recently, both the U.S. House and Senate set records for Hispanic representation. The House set a new record after the 2022 midterm elections, with 52 Hispanic members, Caal says. The Senate has a record six Hispanic members.

None of them is a regular on the talk show circuits. Marco Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, at times will chime-in on Trump's woes, but his appearances are few and far between. Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, also like Rubio a Cuban-American, is never called on to appear.

The others are even less-known, like Alex Padilla, shown in photo above, the Democrat U.S. Senator from California who has never been seen on talk shows. Padilla has been in the senate since 2021, the year of the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Locally, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, a veteran Democrat representing the 34th Congressional District of South Texas shown in photo at left, is a non-voice in the Trump Saga. He has said nothing to the press about any of the 91 felonies lapped on Trump or his upcoming four criminal cases. Not one word that we could find.

Hispanics are well-entrenched in Congress. Their numbers may be small, but those there have been there awhile.

They should join the conversation. They should insist on it, have their staff make a few calls to the show producers and get on FOX News and Morning Joe and the rest of the offerings. 

The Trump Story is all around them, taking their political oxygen daily and making them look as if their thoughts and words on such topics as Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his outstanding accounts with the courts do not matter.

Say something, we say to them...

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!..."Auld Lang Syne"...I'll Take A Cup Of Kindness Yet...2024...

..."PERSON OF THE YEAR"... ...Coach J.C. Ramirez Wins 2023 Applause...Brownsville Veterans Memorial High's Chargers Shocked RGV Fans, Roared To State Semifinals...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

BROWNSVILLE, Texas |...He began the year back in January as defensive coordinator for the Chargers. He ended it as the brand-new head coach who took a small, battling Brownsville Veterans Memorial High team to the state semifinals, the farthest any football team from the Rio Grande Valley has been in playoff play since the Donna Redskins won the valley's only State Championship in 1961.

The "he" in this story would be one J.C. Ramirez, shown in photo above.

For his lofty achievement and a truly spectacular accomplishment, Coach Ramirez is The McAllen Sun's 2023 Person of The Year.

It began somewhat dismally, as Brownsville Veterans Memorial lost two its first four games - against San Benito and PSJA. It then reeled off eight straight wins before whipping an undefeated, ranked squad from PSJA North. That was followed by a stunning victory over much-favored, also undefeated Corpus Christi Miller in Brownsville.

That upset propelled the Chargers into the semifinals tussle against powerhouse Smithson Valley High. A rocky start led to a rout that had Smithson Valley up 49-0 as the fourth quarter began before the Chargers reeled off 21 unanswered points.

The final score was a painful 49-21.

Ramirez made no excuses for the loss. From a fan's standpoint, it was clear that Smithson Valley had the bigger, faster players. Its defensive line outweighed Brownsville Vets by a sizable margin, leading to a sense of desperation on every Chargers offensive snap.

It's a cliche to say that all teams in state playoffs are losers except one - the eventual champion. Smithson Valley was routed by Aledo High 51-8 the following weekend.

But it was that "Valley High" that Coach Ramirez delivered, as the entire admiring Rio Grande community stayed glued to Brownsville Veterans Memorial High's long run through the playoffs. Usually, it is one and done for valley teams against tougher upstate squads.

Not this year.

Coach Ramirez took Brownville to new heights. In his first year as head coach.

We have no inside info on the make-up of next year's team to say Brownsville Veterans Memorial will again challenge for the state title. This may have been one of those special seasons.

The coach's work is best measured by this factoid: There are seven high schools in Brownsville. State Champion Aledo has one.

Fielding teams for seven schools waters down the talent pool for any one high school.

That alone puts the bright, deserving Klieg lights on Coach Ramirez's tireless drive and ultimate success. What began as a team's struggle to mesh ended in a feel-good story beyond anyone's expectations. This was a truly remarkable season for valley football. 

Coach is our Rio Grande Valley "Person of The Year"...

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