SCATTERED THOUGHTS FROM THE BROWNSVILLE OBSERVER EDITOR

 

With BISD under a Governor Abbott directive to "phase-in" classroom learning, it will be interesting to learn the actual percentage of Brownsville parents who will opt to continue the "distance learning" initiated in response to covid-19.

Grandson Jack, I'm told by his parents, will continue distance learning from his bedroom laptop.  Parent surveys indicate that as many as 80% may join Jack in staying home from school in Brownsville.

My limited travels, mostly to H.E.B. and Walmart, seem to find Brownsville in compliance with health directives; face masks, social distancing and use of hand sanitizer.  No mask revolt as in other areas of the country.

Mask wearing is seemingly now connected to political ties, with Trump rally attenders largely eschewing masks and distancing.  Attorney General Barr, the most blatantly partisan AG in memory, recently compared mask and social distancing directives to "slavery," and so the administration and supporters position themselves as science deniers.  After all, the President himself first labeled codiv-19 as a "Democratic hoax," now referring to it as the "China-virus" while holding one rally after another largely without masks or social distancing.  These are strange, ignorant times for our country.

"Mail ballots, they cheat," said the President Tuesday without supporting evidence, setting himself up to challenge the election results.

Responding to Trump's influence, only 19% of Republicans favor mail-in voting according to a Washington Post poll.  

The U.S. is in for a turbulent election.

It's hard to argue that the Trump administration has not been the most corrupt in history surpassing the Nixon Watergate era.  

Back then, courageous Republicans like Howard Baker, Barry Goldwater and others chose country over party unlike the party's gutless wonders today.
  

THE TENTATIVE FUTURE OF THE CAMERON COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY

Carlos Cascos

With the early announcement of the nearly septuagenarian Carlos Cascos as, once again, in the running to be the local party's nominee for Cameron County Judge in 2022, it's almost "Happy Days Are Here Again!" for the Cameron County Republican Party.

Yet, the local G.O.P. is an aging group, likely facing the reality of the post-Trump era in a mere 60 days, with few young voices.  Local zealots, like Tad Hasse, Jessica Puente Bradshaw, recent organizer of a reportedly rather short "Trump Train," Daniel Lenz, Elizabeth Dierlam and Letty Perez Garzoria still share partisan pro-Trump insight on social media, although Roman Perez's rocket no longer veers right, seemingly now headed for the Planet Xanadu.

Cameron County Chairperson, Morgan Cisneros Graham, while dutifully supporting the current commander-in-chief, will give a Cascos for Judge campaign her 110% when he runs in 2022.

The epicenter for the Cameron County Republican party is likely closer to Harlingen than Brownsville and the monthly meetings I've attended through the  years feel like my high school reunion, populated by aging Anglos whose faces I struggle to recognize.

Where are their children and grandchildren, one wonders.  Where is the young Republican or conservative true believer who can argue convincingly that the G.O.P. is good for Cameron County?  Roman Perez could have been that young person had he been able to function in the group with less toxicity.  

I'm curious to know where these aging folk go for reliable news, now that President Trump has added Fox News to his long list of "FAKE NEWS," that's always included ABC, CNN, NBC, CBS and NPR.

Cascos, who, several years ago, conscientiously recognized that the local Democratic Party had "left him," then, according to whispers, voluntarily stepped down from his Secretary of State position in the Abbott regime, must know deep down what Trump is and isn't, but must walk a fine line to maintain his hardest core of support in Cameron County.

We will watch with great curiosity the progression of the Cameron County Republican Party, a group that seems to have only one true leader.

WHY THE BROWNSVILLE OBSERVER DISAPPEARED FOR A FEW MONTHS

Masked, but dangerous

This blog's monthslong hiatus was not pandemic-connected, but rather in response to Ana's discovery that the USCIS had used so-called social media or online statements to reject some immigration applicants.    


Since Trump's unsuitability for office is foremost in my thinking and typically part of my blog content daily, I chose to forego blogging at least until Ana received a green card in the mail.  In this case, pragmatism "trumped" the First Amendment.

Our interview appointment at the Harlingen USCIS Field Office, scheduled for 3:15 PM August 27, went seamlessly, without a hitch, with the inspector's only concern that Ana's medical examination, performed at St. Luke's Hospital in Manila, had expired.

When Ana explained that the sealed medical report had been submitted in January, well before the deadline, the inspector promised to "look into it."

On the drive back home from Harlingen, Ana received a text that her green card "had been approved."

Now, we awaited the physical delivery of the so-called green card before venturing once again into the blogosphere.  Ana received her Permanent Resident Status (green card) in the mail 9/11/2020.

For better or worse, please consider the Brownsville Observer reactivated.