𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣 𝗔𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗦, 𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗦 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗣𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗡, 𝗔𝗦 𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣

               

In remarks Wednesday, President Trump seemed to reverse U.S. foreign policy, referring to Ukraine President Zelensky as a "dictator," even saying it was Ukraine that "started the war."

Shit! I guess Ukraine invaded itself.  What a dishonest, lying dumbass Trump is!

Trump continued: “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and “TRUMP,” will never be able to settle,” Mr. Trump wrote.

As he did in making his assertions a day earlier, he misrepresented verifiable facts. The United States, for instance, has allocated $119 billion for aid to Ukraine, according to a research organization in Germany, the Kiel Institute, not $350 billion.

Fareed Zakaria said Trump's remarks were a "breathtaking reversal in U.S. foreign policy," "the largest in eight decades," stating "nobody was expecting this," calling it a "flipping" of U.S. foreign policy.  "We're witnessing history now in a very tragic way," Zakaria added.

Bernie Sanders: “The issue is not who’s technically the administrator, who has the title. Elon Musk is clearly running the show.” Sanders confessed that he does not feel like he has any oversight over Musk and spoke frankly about the current state of the U.S. federal government and America at large.

“This country is moving very rapidly under Trump into an authoritarian form of society,” Sanders observed. “The Founding Fathers way back in the 1770s — these were nobody’s fools. They had fought the king of England, an autocrat, [who] had all the power, and they said, ‘You know what? We don’t want that in the new country. We’re going to set up three separate, equal branches of government.”

“Every kid in the sixth grade knows who they are, but Trump does not,” the senator told Collins. “What Trump is doing now is trying every day to usurp the powers of Congress … It is a very dangerous moment.

These are dark days for our country.  Trump has aligned with our nation's primary enemy, Russia, turning his back on our nation's allies.  Trump is a traitor to our country and should be removed from office immediately.  

Actually, it should have happened years ago.

Robert Mueller's report clearly showed Trump colluded with Russia, but Mueller undersold his report, leaving it up to interpretation by then Attorney General Bill Barr, who white-washed it.  Now, Barr says Trump is unfit for the oval office, but it's too late.  Mitch McConnell knew better, but saved Trump, putting party before country.  Now, McConnell is retiring after he severely failed the country.

Are there any "Profiles in Courage" in 2025?  

𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬, 𝗜𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗦𝗢 𝗠𝗨𝗖𝗛 𝗔 𝗙𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗠𝗢, 𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗔 𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗕𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘!

 

Mike Rodriguez: "He's not gone.  Erasmo lives in each one of us.  When we see something wrong in our community, our schools, our government, now we become Erasmo, fighting to make things better."

𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟬 𝗟𝗢𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗡𝗢𝗦 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟𝗦 𝗖𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗥𝗚𝗩 𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗬𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗦~~~𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘!!!!

 

                                

By Rene Torres

Staging a sensational comeback from the loser’s bracket, the 1940 Los Fresnos girls won La Feria’s annual valley-wide volleyball tournament. The road to the title game took a pause in their first encounter of the tournament when the La Feria squad embarrassed them 15-3 and 15-5.

But that only ignited their spirit! What they learned from those early losses was that— “some defeats are more triumphant than victories.” And that’s what gave them the momentum to embrace the agony of defeat.

The much-anticipated game drew murmurs from the crowd as La Feria stepped on to the court as favorites. But this time around, the Falcons were not going to be denied. It is not known what coach Copeland said to motivate her squad, but they were a different team that had suffered those early losses. At the end, they won, and crowned Valley champs, dispatching their opposition 13-6 and 15-9.

The given photo shows the Falcons demonstrating smiles, they were a proud and happy group after displaying a miracle comeback. They made a power statement with their win over a great La Feria team.

The roster included: 

Coach P.D. Copeland, Juanita Brooks, Barbara J. Goates, Patsy Weikel, Elizabeth Galyean, captain, Hazel Lipe, Martha S. Cook, and Ruby J. Pederson.

It was an exhausting effort, “All for the love of the game.”

𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗫𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗔𝗦 𝗗𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗡~𝗗𝗢𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣'𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗚𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗣𝗘?

 Anonymous

So who are you blaming? The deportation of illegal immigrants, the school district or the parents. I personally don't see the deportation of illegal immigrants having anything to do with this issue. I blame the school district for not taking steps against the bullying that is if it really occurred. I also blame the Mexican parents who are never involved with their kids lives. Stop the whining and quit blaming everything on the republican administration.

February 19, 2025 at 9:27 AM

The above comment was made in response to Juan Montoya's posting about the 11 year old girl committing suicide after bullying from fellow students threatening to report her to ICE and have her and her parents deported.

The commenter is concerned about blame with no words reflecting empathy or compassion.

I've no doubt that a slim majority of Americans favor the action Trump/Musk is taking to deport immigrants, after all, 52.5% of Cameron County voted for Trump.

Border communities are anxious, hearing and seeing ICE arrests in cities along the border.

                                  

It’s been a wake up call,” said Joaquin Garcia, LUPE director of community organizing. 

“There’s definitely a lot of questions about what could happen if people are, in fact, deported. Here in the Valley, we’ve heard about ICE vehicles visiting different parts of the county and colonias.”

“They’re taking pictures of people coming out of their houses, taking pictures of people’s license plates. But you know, people have to go on with their with their life,” Garcia said.

 “We do tell folks to try to respect the law, respect the traffic signals and whatnot, but if for any reason you’re stopped you know you can exercise your right to remain silent,” Garcia said. 

“Don’t incriminate yourself," he added.

Now, this won't be any solace to immigrant families, but Trump is not the most competent of leaders, currently running through government like a bull in a china shop, firing hundreds in the Department of Justice, firing nuclear inspectors, removing anyone working to maintain ethics, and now rumored to be firing up to 15,000 in the Internal Revenue Service.  What a great idea to greatly reduce staff in the I.R.S. just at tax time!

                                      

One very curious Trump move is the naming of simply the most incompetent person imaginable to head nearly every department of government.  We won't go through the names as we've already done that in other articles, but we just have to analyze what this means.

The obvious conclusion is that Trump thinks that weakening our government with incompetent department heads clears the road for his own dictatorship.  I know longer trust Congress to act as a check and balance as its currently controlled by Republicans, a weak lot of sycophants under the spell of a cult of personality.  The Supreme Court is also compromised and corrupt.

My primary hope is the American people rising up as they did in the 60's to oppose an evil, dishonest government fighting an undeclared war and lying about it.  

𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗦𝗠𝗢 𝗔𝗧 𝗙𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔 𝗗𝗘𝗟 𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗟 𝟮/𝟭𝟵, 𝟮/𝟮𝟬

 

Funeraria del Angel

125 McDavitt Blvd.

Viewing: Wednesday, 2/19, 1:00 PM to 9 PM

Funeral: Thursday, 2/20, 10:00 AM

Burial:   Thursday, 2/20, 11:00 AM

𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗪𝗡~𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗬, 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗦, 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗨𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗦, 𝗩𝗔𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦

  

Photos courtesy of Jerry Danache

The City Commission meeting focused on various forms of informal selling or entrepreneurship  in Brownsville.

After an initial Executive Session, during which I dozed off, the City Commission considered an ordinance restricting the sale of soft drinks, food items, etc. on the streets of downtown Brownsville.  City Commissioner Pedro Cardenas wanted to add car washing to the prohibited items and that got me daydreaming a bit.  

Car washing with a rag and a bucket filled with soapy water is a downtown tradition.  I've only used the service once as my late wife always waived them off, but my only concern was that the rinse water and the cleaning water were the same.  But, Hell, $3.00 for a car wash.  Where else in the country can you get that?

                       

I picked up some stats from a survey I hope the city didn't pay too much for:  20% of the city's elderly rate Brownsville as an "excellent" place to live.  63% want more exercise classes.  41% rate their own health as good. 

Now, this one confused me from a mathematical standpoint:  60% get their information from television, while 63% get it from social media.  Is that mathematically possible?  I'll ask one of my grandsons.  

Another measure wanted E-cigarettes, vapes, whatever, sold only in establishments 1000 feet away from churches and schools.

                                                      

Sheriff Lucio and the editor

While Commissioner Roy De Los Santos wanted that to be a "direct 1000 feet," the late Sheriff Oscar Lucio explained to me how that's measured years ago. .  . LOL. ("Jim, it's down the sidewalk, cross the street, then down the opposite sidewalk, 1000 feet.")

There was some discussion of rules for downtown parking in vacant lots, driveways, etc., but, to be honest, I didn't hear everything said.  I know that Brownsville's downtown residents are eager to rent out parking spaces during Charro Days and big games at Sam's Stadium.  Again, it's entrepreneurship.

𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣, 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗦, 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗗𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗬

 

Eileen Workman

I know a little something that so many do not appreciate about Donald, but that those of us who worked with him in the financial services game have known for many decades—LONG before he ever made a run at politics. — with Mark Rodgers.

His stated motives rarely reveal his true agenda. His showmanship and charisma bedazzles the uninformed, which is exactly how he likes it.

He never signed a contract or met an agreement he wouldn’t violate or wriggle out of if it suited his hidden agenda. He never met an investor whose purse he didn’t consider his own in some strategic way. And he never met a human being he wouldn’t screw in order to advance or satisfy himself.  

If you want to understand his beef with Panama, don’t look at the canal to which he now points. Look at Trump enterprises and their fraught financial and criminal relationship with Panama, and look to the Russian oligarchs who bought condos in his Panama Tower. 

If you want to understand his fixation with Gaza, don’t look at the Palestinian or Israeli people; look at the real estate value he now perceives that Gaza holds, and he’d like to unlock. 

If you want to understand his insane, obsessive beef with energy renewable windmills, don’t look at the wind energy aspect; look at his beef with Scotland over his golf course and the nearby windmills that damaged his idea of its aesthetics. 

If you want to understand his irrational hatred of Obama, don’t look at the policies of the Obama administration; look to the annual press corp dinner where Obama poked fun at him and bruised his ego. If you want to understand his demonization of Democrats, look not to Democratic social policy, but to the fact they didn’t want him to run under color of their party. 

If you want to understand his hatred of “immigrants” don’t look to the actual contributions and challenges related to immigration, but to his own germophobia and personal disgust for all things “dirty and brown.” 

What he does SO masterfully, as many sociopaths do, is figure out how to align, however temporarily, his own personal agenda with the drives of those he can then USE to help him execute it. And the GOP fell right in line with that abusive strategy. 

The GOP now looks much like a battered wife who would LOVE to quit Trump, but who also knows their financial security, personal comfort, and social status would collapse if they ran away. And they fear they won’t get much sympathy or support from the people who tried to warn them not to marry the dude—a serial, liar, cheater, thief, sadist, and a generally Bad Person. 

Many of the GOP politicians today are busily masking their own abuse from the general public; at some point, however, as they watch their power continue to erode, their reputations get smashed, and themselves get blamed for the extensive abuse they now suffer, something’s gonna give. 

I don’t know what it is, but every bone in my body FEELS an energetic convergence heading toward a massive, MASSIVE explosion—coming soon.

Eilene Workman

𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝟮𝟬 𝗜𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗝𝗨𝗗𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗦𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦~~𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣/𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗞 𝗪𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗖𝗛 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗨𝗧𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗡𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗝𝗨𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗟𝗘

                                  

While I've no doubt government can be trimmed, streamlined, made more cost-effective, but those cuts have to be made with surgical skill, not risking the health, safety or constitutional rights of Americans.

The Trump/Musk wrecking ball approach to trimming government waste is not only juvenile, it will create more problems than it solves.

For example, the recent firing of 20 U.S. immigration judges will add to delays for an already overwhelmed immigration system.

There are over 3.7 million backlogged immigration cases, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, and immigration lawyers say the removal of these judges come at a time when the system is suffering from the most cases ever in history.

“I’ve got master hearings, that are the initial hearings, that are not till like, two or three years from now and then after that, it’s going to be a few more years before you would have the final hearing individual so, I mean, you could be talking in some jurisdictions upwards of six, seven plus years for a case to be adjudicated,” stated William Brooks, a Houston immigration lawyer, “so how things stand, the last thing you would want to do is eliminate judges.”

Thirteen immigration judges who were not yet sworn in were notified they had been dismissed on Friday along with five assistant chief immigration judges from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the Associated Press reports.

The cuts come as the new Trump administration is overhauling government and evaluating efficiency of offices.

There are about 735 immigration judges nationwide; that’s about 6,000 immigration cases per judge.

~~~~~~~~𝗧𝗥𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗣𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬

 cult: a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing, a cult of personality

                      

Reverend Sun Yung Moon, David Koresh, Reverend Jim Jones, Donald Trump

The phrase "MAGA cultists" stings, but it's also ineffective.  It doesn't cause a person to recalculate,  but simply reinforces the belief system, the resolve to fight for the leader.

There are no talking points, no logic or reasoning, no anecdotal evidence powerful enough to penetrate the thinking of someone locked in a cult of personality.

Deprogramming, even with the aid of a mental health professional, can take years.

Donald Trump knew it back in 2015 and was brazen enough to actually say it: "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? . . . It's, like, incredible."

Nothing fazed the MAGA crowd; not "Pussygate," not the obvious fraud of Trump University, Trump Charities or the Trump Organization, not the lies and misrepresentations spewing out of his mouth daily and certainly not the way he destroyed his 17 Republican challengers with childish insults.

While not a mental health professional, I've observed cults of personality in my 77 years of life; the Reverend Sun Myun Moon orchestrating every single aspect of the "Moonie's" lives, including their wedding day, the throng who followed Jim Jones to Guyana, eventually drinking the cyanide-laced Kool-Aid he served them to their death by mass suicide.

                                                             

Cult identity is not rational, but emotional.  Oh, some initial convincing takes place to be sure and words are used and "evidence" is presented, but, at some point, GroupThink, peer pressure, commitment to a cause, takes over and obedience, adherence, loyalty becomes part of the psyche. 

Are some more susceptible than others to being influenced by cults?  What exactly is brainwashing? Intelligent, educated people followed Jim Jones of the People's Temple into Guyana, drank the cyanide-laced liquid to their death and, in some cases, to the demise of their offspring.  It matters little what bullshit they believed, just why they were so vulnerable to lies and so easily lead.  

 

Mass suicide in Guyana

𝗔𝗦 𝗚𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗡 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡, 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗖𝗜𝗖, 𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗖𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗖𝗬𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗕𝗜𝗔 𝗜𝗦 𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗗

           

    

As City Commissioner Rose Gowen leaves the city commission, we've thought about her legacy, the city's bike trails.  No, most Brownsvillians don't ride bikes in the 95F heat, but the trails are an amenity, mostly used by mothers and their kids to go to a neighbor's house or to grandma's.  

It's been over ten years since Gowen's original term on the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation(BCIC) expired 1/31, 2014, but, according a contributed article in El Rrun Rrun, she's back as board chairman, a role giving her oversight of $5M+ in "quality of life" funds from sales tax revenue.  

Gowen, a bicycle visionary, who's primarily responsible for Brownsville's hike & bike trails, pitched the idea that bicycle tourism would be an economic driver for our town, telling us years ago that bicycle tourists "have an annual income of $190,000, no $200,000 and an average of at least two advanced degrees," in other words enriching Brownsville not only economically, but also intellectually.  

           

Bicycle tourism just never developed as promised, despite the city renting a spot inside the Harlingen airport for $7,000 annually proclaiming our town the "Bicycle Capital of the Rio Grande Valley."  Even the claim that "1,000 riders per day" used the Battlefield Hike & Bike Trail was simply an untruth told in applying for a grant to extend the trail through downtown.

During the tussle involving reducing one of the  town's east/west arteries, E. 6th Street, from three lanes to two, to make way for a bike lane, some of our readers referred to Gowen as "rude," "arrogant" 

and "drunk with power," their words, not ours.

When a citizen, Jaime Parra, respectfully told Gowen he didn't think the E. 6th Street project was a good idea, she responded:  "You can vote for whomever you want next time. . . . but you know who I came from and if you have any remaining respect for my father I would ask that you give me the respect of listening to what I have to say."

A project I personally opposed, that was promoted by both Gowen and then Mayor Tony Martinez, was selling the city's Lincoln Park to the University of Texas system for $6M, likely to use the monies to enhance the bike trails.  Losing a beautiful green area in he city for buildings on a UT satellite campus made zero sense, especially with raw land available adjacent to the park.(Gowen must have been embarrassed a little when it was revealed that, as an employee of the UT system, she had a clear conflict of interest.)

                      

A Fort Worth Bicycle Seminar(The taxpayers paid $1400 per person, including $56 meals per diem for the two day trip to learn more about cycling)

Gowen also should be credited with establishing the annual downtown cycling event, CycloBia, an idea picked up by city officials on a very expensive junket to Bogota, Colombia.  Travel alone, at least 16 trips, cost taxpayers $312,541, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.  The city also rented and staffed an office in Bogota for a couple years.

Clearly, our city's bike trails and the annual downtown cycling event are part of Rose Gowen's legacy, but at considerable cost to the city's taxpayers.

𝗚𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗗𝗬 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗥𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗗 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡

 

Donald J. Trump has had a longtime burr up his butt over the Kennedy Center Honors, boycotting the event during his first term 2017-2020.  

Now, Trump has flexed his artsy muscles, firing all 18 members of the Kennedy Center board, replacing them with sychophants like country singer Lee Greenwood, a Trump supporter who penned a tune used on the Trump campaign, "God Bless the U.S.A.," and also members of his administration and their wives.  

The new board quickly named Donald J. Trump as board chairman for the Kennedy Center Honors, likely to be aired late 2025.

Trying to anticipate who a Trump-led Kennedy Center Honors in the first year of the new board and board chairman, we compiled a collage of Trump-centric artists below(not an easy task.)

Just a brief word on why Hollywood and most music artists seem anti-Trump: Trump's mentor was Roy Cohn, the attorney, who along with Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin, conducted the Red Scare of the 50's, accusing everyone and their dog of being a communist, including many journalists and Hollywood actors.  

In December 1954 the Senate passed a Motion of Condemnation against McCarthy, destroying his credibility, and Cohn was disbarred as a lawyer.

𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗦𝗬𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣/𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗞 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦!

From the editor:  The comment below was made  on the article about D.O.G.E. firings, but it's insightful enough for a stand-alone article. 

"Many years ago I worked for a state agency that put in place a reduction in force.

As an administrator I was trained in how to do it in a way that would maintain the dignity of the employee and provide them with various resources as they began their search for new work. We did it this way because the laid-off employees were all meeting job requirements (it was last hired first fired, providing they were meeting standards) and had contributed to the Agency's goals. 

It was also done this way to help insure the safety of staff by reducing the possibility that a disgruntled employee would return to the workplace with violence on their mind. This was not long after the term "going postal" had been coined. 

The way this stuff is currently being done by Trump, Musk and their ilk it may very well generate a violent reaction from an ex-employee who can no longer make their rent or car payment or feed their children, especially if they voted for Trump and feel betrayed on top of the humiliation of the job loss. 

I don't know if it continues to be true but at one time people considered a job lose to be one of the top five lifetime stressors, up there with death and divorce. If I was a continuing employee in one of the impacted agencies, I would have an escape plan just in case."

𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗚𝗟𝗬 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣'𝗦 𝗘𝗫𝗘𝗖𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗚 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗦 𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦

                                                                  

The idea of obliterating the Mexican drug cartels, specifically their operations in the United States, doesn't seem bad on the surface.

The editor

While President Trump's Executive Order issued January 20th simply uses the phrase "the cartels," the State Department, headed by Marco Rubio, has come out more specifically, naming the Sinaloa cartel, Jalisco New Generation cartel, the Northeast cartel, the Michoacán family, the United cartels and the Cartel del Golfo.  Tren de Aragua(TdA) and La Mara Salvatrucha(MS-13) were already specifically mentioned by Trump in the EO.

Something also very critical in understanding the impact of this Executive Order is in the title: 

DESIGNATING CARTELS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS AS FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS AND SPECIALLY DESIGNATED GLOBAL TERRORISTS

Of course, U.S. law enforcement can already go after any cartel or cartel member violating the law in this country, so, why the need to designate the cartels as "terrorist" organizations?

Well, this may be the main purpose of the Executive Order, designating the cartels as FTOs and/or FDGTs, as it casts a wider net than one might think as any person or group providing “material support or resources” to an FTO or FDGT, a designated terrorist organization, can be prosecuted.

By classifying these groups as "terrorists," anyone who pays a coyote, who turns out to be a cartel member, can be prosecuted and deported as a criminal.

                                          

Churches, synagogues, food banks, and other organizations providing services to migrant communities could be at risk as well, given the broad sweep of the FTO designation including the phrase "material support or resources."  Food, money, transportation, a place to stay for the night, can become illegal, criminal activity under these provisions.  

I'm thinking of entities like the Good Neighbor Settlement Home, the Ozanam Center or Catholic Charities RGV and other similar groups.  What if one of these charitable organizations is found to have served a meal to someone with cartel connections?

So, all of a sudden, this Executive Order puts at risk any immigrant, refugee or assylum seeker who pays a coyote or any charitable organization who innocently, in the course of their charity, offered to any and all, serves a meal or offers lodging to a person later determined to have cartel connections. 

I clearly see the handiwork of Trump's closest advisor, White Supremacist Stephen Miller, in all of this. 

White Supremacist Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy