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.