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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

But Mexico will buck-up and vote.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

I never saw her again.

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One billion dollars is 1,000 million.

Not exactly chump change.

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

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

We say enough is enough.

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

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

This has gone on too long.

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

My friends say that already is the case...

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

Trump lost 34-0.

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

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

Irony of ironies, Baby.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am satisfied.

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

Judge Merchan: "Do you understand the charges?"

Trump: "Yes."

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

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11th.

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

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

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

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

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

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

We will update this as developments break...

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Republicans are exhibiting rabid tendencies.

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So where does it stop?

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I expect a GUILTY verdict rendered without apology...

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

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

We have only one flag - the stars & stripes.

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

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

Yeah, what to think of it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

But we persevere here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you, Congresswoman Crockett...

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

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

Everything about this is normal, okay? ]

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

But it does represent the nation.

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

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

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

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

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...Once more, we are monitoring reader access to our "Comments" feature. It has been working and not working for a week, or so. You'll get a "Failed to publish" message, but keep trying. The problem is with Blogger, our platform provider, and not with us or with you...] 

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

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

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

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

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

Now this from his office:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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[EDITOR'S NOTE:...We have suspended our "Comments feature" until further notice after repeated efforts to correct a lingering problem. Readers reported getting "Failed To Publish" messages from Blogger, our platform provider. We tire of the hassle, so...]  

HOT, HOT, HOT:...Extreme Temps To Be The New Normal For Rio Grande Valley Residents...Hundred-Degree Readings Way Ahead Of Last Year's Summer Scorch...May Exceed 115 Degrees This Weekend...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...It's damned-straight here. And all you can do is endure it. Survival, Baby. Break out the gallon lemonade pitcher and get yourself some more ice trays. Summer is here, although the calendar says it's not summer just yet.

Weatherboys are issuing warnings right and left.

This from axios.com: [ According to the NOAA Weather Prediction Center, record-breaking highs and record-setting high overnight minimum temperatures are expected, particularly in southern Texas, along the Gulf Coast, and into Florida.

"This heat could be particularly dangerous for people dealing with a loss of power in parts of Texas. Warm overnight temperatures will offer little relief and high humidity could also lead to heat index readings over 110 degrees," forecasters said in a technical forecast discussion on Tuesday morning.

The weekend will be particularly hot from South Texas through the central Gulf Coast, with overnight temperatures and potentially daily highs setting records as well.

Heat indices in South Texas, Houston, New Orleans and other areas may approach or exceed 115°F this weekend.

The cause of this particular heat wave is a powerful and sprawling area of high pressure aloft, also known as a heat dome, parked over Mexico and affecting areas from Central America to the Southern Plains. ]

Can you say Climate change?

Say it. Or learn to say it...

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REPUBLICAN MAYRA FLORES BRINGS THE MAGA LIGHTWEIGHTS:...Her Campaign For District 34 Congressional Seat Is Wallowing...Not Saying Anything New...She Invites A Dude From Florida For Her Meet & Greet...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

PHARR, Texas |...Well, maybe she needed a guy whose native tongue is English to better verbalize her campaign. Here, five months before the November election, it appears Mayra Flores cannot stage a Meet & Greet with area voters by herself.

And we'd been hearing that she fully believes she has "Star Power."

Uh, no. 

Flores, who lost the 2020 election Big Time to incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez by more than 11,000 votes, has invited a far-right congressman from Florida to do her bidding. That's him in photo above, Republican Cory Mills, the 43-year-old who represents District 7 in the troubled Sunshine State.

Like many Republicans, Mills, too, has giddily come to the Mexican border to tell us it is being overrun by immigrants. Oh, and he proudly states on his website that he introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.

He's in his first term in Congress.

Why and how Mayra Flores got this guy is the mystery. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that she took a color photograph with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton up in Dallas. Did Paxton decline her invitation? He seems to have so much more going for him, this after attending the Trump Porn Star Trial in New York and being talked about as a possible attorney general if Trump wins the presidential election.

Cory Mills?

He's a lightweight, even in his own state. Was Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott unavailable? Abbott has said more about the border than God. Or how about that other loopy Floridian, Congressman Matt Gaetz?

Or, much better yet, Mayra, who tends to get huffy every now and then, could have asked excitable Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to come grace the humble Junction Cafe in Pharr, where Flores will host her meet & greet on June 1st. Breasty, fondling Lauren Boebert?

Every pachuco in the Rio Grande Valley would have shown up to get a glimpse of sexy Boebert.

Cory Mills? Who dat???

Nah, not on a Saturday, fer chrissakes. We'll stick with watching rough & tumble women's pro basketball on TV...

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CARTOON OF THE DAY:...Hard To Laugh At This, But What Else Can You Do With Stupid?...Republican Cultists Show Their Colors...Something's Gotta Give...

 

TWO GIRLS SHOPPING:...Republicans Seeking Congressional Seats Don't Get It...Longshot District 34 Candidate Mayra Flores Suspends "All You Can Eat" Campaign...District 15's Monica De La Cruz Keeps Shopping...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...You'd think they might want to talk about issues or policy to do with serving this part of South Texas, like lobbying Big Business to bring better, higher-paying jobs. Or maybe offer some heady solution to the Border Problem they forever crow about.

But no, our two Republican candidates for Congress would rather shop. Eat out pretty much daily and keep shopping.

District 34 candidate Mayra Flores has spent the better part of May hitting Rio Grande Valley cafes and restaurants, insisting she is merely promoting small businesses. She, however, has now shifted to other smaller businesses. That's Flores at right in photo above at a bookstore in Weslaco, hardly the center of any sizeable vote in the November General Election.

Incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez is said to be laughing.

Perhaps Mayra will soon look elsewhere, to where the area poor actually hangout - like pawn shops, plasma donation centers, used car lots, employment offices and second-hand thrift stores. She certainly does not know the pulse of the poverty-stricken valley.

In adjacent District 15, incumbent Republican Monica De La Cruz keeps shopping.

De La Cruz, shown in color photo at right, keeps parroting the "small businesses need help" line most of this year, in numerous visits to restaurants, gun ranges and boutiques. The 50-year-old, single mom and owner of an insurance agency, has yet to speak to needs and wants from her constituents. No, not a peep on how grocery store prices have saddled local poor with tough decisions on whether to buy medicines or plums.

Both 38-year-old Flores and De La Cruz have fallen-in with the silly party line of attacking President Joe Biden and defending their leader, the defendant du jour Donald J. Trump, currently enmeshed in a hush money trial to do with his sexing of Porn Star Stormy Daniels.

Yeah. Tone deafness is in these days.

Neither of these two gals has said a word of an impending Red Wave of voters in November, as they so sang long & hard in 2022.

Congressman Gonzalez and District 15 Democrat opponent Michelle Vallejo can only hope that Flores and De La Cruz stay on the taco food tour and on celebrating women's dress shops.

There isn't much for voters to think about with these two amateurish Republicans...

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SUN RECORDS:...From 1976, A Moment-In-Time Song By Bob Dylan..." Romance In Durango"...

LABELED STOOGES:...Trump's Supporters Leave Job In Congress To Sit In NYC Courtroom...Blasted As Being Morons...Including Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, Who Didn't Attend Criminal Son's Recent Court Appearances...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Well, it certainly was an American first. There, in a Lower Manhattan courtroom described as being dingy and in need of remodeling, a covey of Republican congresspeople and senators sat for long hours while their leader - one Donald J. Trump - saw and listened to his alleged crooked business dealings as if watching a cheap, Italian B-movie saga.

Send in the clowns, yes.

This while news reports also had it that U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito had at times flown the American flag upside down, said to be a protest move against the 2020 election Trump lost. We are on the precipice of a coast-to-coast joke gone wrong.  

And at a hearing in the House of Representatives, a few obvious facts crashed off the hallowed halls of a very old political chamber in the Capitol Building. 

". . . . What Republicans won't show you," New York Congressman Jerry Nadler said, "is the mounting evidence that Trump is mentally incompetent to hold the office of the president."

Nadler scoffed at Trump’s inexplicable praise at a recent rally of the fictional character Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs."

". . . . 'The late, great Hannibal Lecter,'" Nadler quoted Trump. "I can't even begin to understand how Republicans have chosen this man as their champion. But they have. And now House Republicans are paying for it by flocking to the sidelines of his criminal trial, sacrificing their integrity to defend them against, frankly, indefensible acts."

Truer words are rarely spoken in the D.C.

But Republicans do not care. That also is a fact, cold and mineral as it is. These burning-grill MAGA people are hellbent on something they likely would eventually despise. Annoying pain sometimes turns into something more serious.

Republican Lauren Boebert of Western Colorado was one of those in attendance for Trump's latest day in court yesterday. What she may know about hush money payments to porn stars is a question we cannot answer.

But we do know that her son was arrested back in Rifle, Colorado and charged with burglary and a few other crimes associated with such things. Boebert's only comment about that was that the family was going through a litany of problems that also included her divorce from the kid's father.

Then she said getting her son a lawyer was problematic in that it was an expense she could not afford.

But there she was in New York, backing Trump. Talking loudly when addressing the press outside the courtroom, as if all was hunky-dory in her own crumbling house.

And then some dude walked up to her and handed her a Broadway bill (show's program pamphlet) for the show Beetlejuice and we saw Boebert frown and walk away. Beetlejuice, well a performance of the stage show in Denver, had brought her notoriety a few months back.

She had been caught on theater cameras groping a date's todger and being groped about her breasts while seated alongside other theater go'ers.

Her saliva-fueled anger aimed at Trump's prosecutors seemed silly, artful and fake.

Lauren Boebert?...

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SUN RECORDS:...From My Reporting Days In Mexico For The Houston Post...Written By Juan Gabriel...This Version By Playa Limbo..."Así Fue"...

SUN TV:...Opening Theme to COLD CASE...Series Ran From 2003 to 2010...A Howl For Life...

YA TALKIN' TO ME?:...Witness Michael Cohen Adds Nail To Trump's Criminal Coffin...Prosecution Ends Case This Week...Who & What Will Defense Offer?...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...I don't know about you, but this ongoing criminal trial involving shifty Donald J. Trump is a punch to the head more riveting than any Mob movie or Mario Puzo book.

And then Trump's posse of errant legislators that included Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson walked into the courtroom yesterday.

What's next - someone taking key witness - and former Trump lawyer - Michael Cohen out on the lake and popping one in the head? Fredo Corleone as Cohen in the next scene?

You could spend your time better, we say, but the trial is needed.

This was part of the testimony offered by Cohen as he took the witness stand this week - 

From motherjones.com: "This is a disaster, a total disaster," Cohen testified Trump said to him. "This is really a disaster. Women are going to hate me, guys may think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the (2016) campaign."

Cohen said he also asked Trump how his wife, Melania, would handle the story of an affair between Trump and Porn Star Stormy Daniels. Even as he has denied making the payments, Trump has insisted that any efforts were not politically motivated but to protect his wife who had just given birth to their son Barron at the time of the affair. Cohen said Trump was dismissive of his wife.

"Don’t worry, how long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long," Cohen said Trump told him. "He wasn’t thinking about Melania, this was all about the campaign." ]

Love it.

Great dialogue is what makes a novel or movie great. You can write-up a scene of a landscape or a city or a bar, but what your characters have to say and how they say is what makes for great writing. Any monkey can do a blog, right.

So, we head into the last two days of prosecution testimony in Trump's Hush Money Trial, as today is a day-off for the Manhattan court.

I say the weekend will be Holy Hell for defense lawyers. Surely, Trump will have them assembled and he'll them read them the Riot Act. poor bastards. They are mouthing Trump's questions when they question witnesses. Never a good thing for defendants, but it's happening in this one.

There is no word as to who the defense will put on the stand next week, also said to possibly be the last week of the trial.

Will tough guy Trump take the stand?

Don't bet on it. He's a great talker of nothingness, but factual discourse is not his style or forte.

Pity...

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SUN TV:...From A Well-Done Series With Music Of Its Time...COLD CASE..."Perfect Day Ending Scene"...

DO THAT TO ME ONE MORE TIME:...Candidate Mayra Flores Rides "All You Can Eat" Campaign In Congressional District 34 Race...Alas, Nothing New In Her Effort To Unseat Democrat Vicente Gonzalez...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Perhaps we expect too much from our current politicians. And maybe they know it now. Representing others can be a drag when you're chasing something else, goes the line in Rio Grande Valley bars and cafes these days.

Take Republican candidate Mayra Flores, shown in photo above.

The 38-year-old keeps claiming the common journey of many New Americans who arrive here and instantly declare they have found the American Dream, whatever that may be these days. Born in Burgos, Mexico in the northern Mexico state of Tamaulipas, Miss Flores has done enough with her personal life to lay such a claim.

She is an American, educated in San Benito public schools and, later, at South Texas Community College in wealthier McAllen, where she studied the Respiratory Technician skills also mentioned in her resume, along with being a married mom of three and having a Border Patrol agent for a husband.

Today, she is seeking a life in politics, challenging incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzlez for the 34th Congressional District seat he has held for two terms. Miss Flores lost to Gonzalez by more than 11,000 votes in the most recent election, 2022.

We cannot tell you where or when the seed of politics entered her mind and life, but that experience most voters seek in candidates is and always is rather thin in Mayra Flores. Her background was one of work in healthcare, hardly the place for a loud, tough-talking MAGA Republican. But maybe she is a quick study; that is, she could decide to seek office, look at the landscape and glean a persona from those already in the field while crafting her new face and sound.

Her campaign style seems okay, one of mixing with the area's voting populace. All politicians do that, don't they?

We have been tickled by her recent approach of hitting Rio Grande Valley eateries to display what she says is support for small businesses. Sounds cool. But what the photos she kept posting on her Facebook page about her food tour did was reinforce a belief here that she is too intellectually shallow for the job she wants.

Can you picture Congressman Gonzalez doing the same?

No, he's damned busy doing the job, bringing home the bacon - seemingly announcing more federal monies for South Texas every week. Meanwhile, opponent Mayra Flores chomps away at quite-decent grub. The problem for her is that food does not vote, and what lingers in one's mind is that perhaps she should be doing some door-knocking.

An "All You Can Eat" campaign is a loser from the get-go. Mayra Flores appears entitled, eating out every day in a part of the state and country where most struggle to find good jobs, pay bills, get a roof over their heads and put food on the table.

Who knows, but we do hope that she has other approaches to her campaign.

We would advise her to speak to issues/policy instead of how much she enjoyed that played at Rooster's Country Restaurant in Harlingen or those BBQ ribs in Brownsville. Is she seeking endorsements? No word about that, or about voicing how this effort is different than her losing 2022 campaign.

Interestingly, her Facebook page is chock-full of support from her followers. But we do notice that a good amount of them are not from the Rio Grande Valley, or even from Texas. Most of those outsiders are clearly MAGA-types who giddily applaud her latest anti-Democrat rant.

District 34 includes the eastern portion of Hidalgo County, but we not seen Mayra Flores campaigning or eating in McAllen, where voters do turn out.

Maybe we're early with this report. She could roll into a City of Palms eatery today.

As for our early read on her chances in the November General Election, well, we would say that she has not done anything she didn't do in 2022. Nothing new, not even a faint holler or two about that Red Wave being on its way one more time.

Democrat Vicente Gonzalez, an attorney by profession, is doing the job he was elected to do.

A few days ago, we wrote that there is no reason to change horses in this race.

This morning, we still believe it...

-30-

SUN RECORDS:...From The Boss, New Jersey's Bruce Springsteen, A Beer Tune Off The Corner Jukebox, For Sure..."Walk Like A Man"...

THE MAN WHO LOVED MEXICO:...McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos...This Republican Does Not Hate Mexicans, Nor Does He, We Suspect, Want to Bomb The Cartels...All About Business Relationships...

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Often, you see Mayor Javier Villalobos pumping-up local eateries. He's genuine in his desire to spotlight some of the best in The City of Palms. No fake politics there, Mayra Flores.

And we should say that we endorse his every move to attract business from Mexico, our neighbor to the south. Lord knows he's been at it since assuming the job.

The photo you see above is of the mayor (third tourist from the left) and his entourage as the group took a break while visiting the beautiful city of Oaxaca - home of Prof. Jose Lopez Alaves, author of perhaps my favorite Mexican song of all time: "Cancion Mixteca". 

Prior to this, Villalobos spent some time networking in Mexico City.

On his Facebook page, he wrote: "Thank you all for the beautiful birthday wishes. I’ve spent my day in Mexico City in meetings promoting McAllen and our region as the economic powerhouse that it is. If we all work together as a region, we are a force to be reckoned with. #I❤️MCALLEN."

A grand plan and a worthy one, yes.

Now, if only other Rio Grande Valley mayors were as inspired.

Mexico is this country's Number 1 trading partner these days. Area cities like Harlingen and Brownsville should be looking south a bit more. Both, however, seem to forever look to Washington, D.C. as savior to their economies.

How yesteryear is that?...

-30-

SUN TV:...From The Vault...COLD CASE, Season 2, Episode 15 - "Wishing"...

IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES:...For Republicans, A Slow Roll To Death...Killing It Softly...Devotion To One Flawed Man...MTG Offers Death Knell Aloud...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...A good bloody, hair-pulling brawl could be had if we could get Stormy Daniels and Marjorie Taylor Green into the ring. Both are angry, ripped enough to do away with the Republican Party. Already, vibes point to a horrible night in November's general election.

Porn star Daniels has carved-up the troubled party's figurehead, one Donald J. Trump, in court, while Taylor Greene, shown in photo above, is now predicting the end of her party, a group of congressional do-nothings in total disarray.

This gravesite spiel came this week from Taylor Greene, Georgia's 14th Congressional District representative: . . . ."The future of our Republican Party is very bleak when Republicans in Congress can never follow through. When Republicans in Congress put America last and countries like Ukraine first. We aren’t going to have a future Republican Party. We’ll never win another election because we haven’t given our voters anything to vote for."

And she blasted FOX News.

That disastrous week in court for Trump? That testimony given by Stormy Daniels? It was just kicks to the head of the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee, a flawed candidate somehow still in the chase. Forty-nine-year-old Taylor Greene has long been a fan of the oft-indicted Trump.

Now, she wants to be the one to stick the agger in the party that wants so badly to throw her to the side of the road, to weaken her "power" in Congress and to lower her celebrity standing. You'd have to live in a trailer park to understand her, but she has been getting the headlines.

As for FOX, well, Marjorie believes it is not as benevolent and entity for the GOP as most Republicans might think.

FOX, she said this week, wants all Republicans to think and do what it offers via a string of daily talk shows and one-sided news reporting.

Loudmouth Marjorie's right, but when was the last time Republicans went elsewhere for news & information. They damn the mainstream press daily.

Not since the 1988-1992 era of softee George H.W. Bush, we would say...and that was a long, long time ago...

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SUN TV:...Commercials...Bud Light "Real Men Of Genius" - Mr. Giant Taco Salad Inventor...