Tuesday, August 31, 2021
WILL BIDEN LEARN FROM TRUMP'S MISHANDLING OF THE 2019 PUERTO RICO HURRICANE?
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| Trump with Governor of Puerto Rico and wife Melania |
Puerto Ricans were still recovering from Hurricane Irma when Maria made landfall in the fall of 2019. The storm devastated the island, destroying homes and crippling vital infrastructure.
The crisis demanded an immediate and heavy response from the federal government. But Trump's response was sluggish, even as early reports made clear that this was a serious tragedy in the making.
The White House made few preparations in the lead-up to the storm, and it was weeks before the Federal Emergency Management Agency committed its full resources to the island.
During that time, clean water was scarce, food was hard to find, and hospitals struggled to care for patients, some with serious injuries and illnesses. Most of Puerto Rico lacked electricity for months, and medical supplies were few and far between.
When FEMA did eventually act, it dropped the ball. To deliver 30 million meals, the agency contracted with an Atlanta-based wedding caterer with no experience in emergency management. By the time the company’s contract was terminated, it had delivered just 50,000 of those meals.
Trump, trying to compare Hurricane Maria to Katrina said: "But if you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina, and you look at the tremendous—hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died."
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| Trump Tossing Paper Towels to Puerto Rican Hurricane Victims |
Then Trump congratulated himself: “Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!”
A new Harvard study, released on Tuesday and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, estimated that at least 4,465 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria, which would make it the deadliest natural disaster to strike the United States since 1900, when a powerful hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas, and surrounding areas, killing at least 8,000 people. The researchers, who surveyed thousands of randomly selected homes in Puerto Rico, asked residents about deaths and extrapolated from the results, attributing many of the deaths to hospital disruptions and loss of basic utility services.
A faster, stronger response would have prevented some of those deaths. Even if the White House was unprepared when the storm initially hit, much of the aftermath could have been averted if President Trump had focused his administration on the disaster and brought the weight of the federal government to bear on the unfolding tragedy. Instead, Trump sent every signal that he simply didn’t care. He downplayed the devastation to Puerto Rico and blamed Puerto Ricans for not doing more to repair the damage. He went after the mayor of San Juan, who had criticized the government’s response. He didn’t use his Twitter account to publicize relief efforts or generally encourage Americans to help. What he did do during that time, however, was campaign for political allies and start a feud with black football players.
IS RAMIRO GONZALEZ GETTING READY TO FLIP THE LOT THE CITY LET HIM BUY ON CENTRAL BLVD. FOR $7,154?,
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| Ramiro's Land at Corner of Central Blvd. and Lakeside Drive |
In May of 2014 Interim City Planner Ramiro Gonzalez discovered a lot on Central Boulevard at Lakeside Drive with no accountable owner.
Seeing an opportunity to acquire property along one of Brownsville's busiest thoroughfares, Gonzalez approached the City Commission about purchasing the triangular-shaped property for a mere pittance, $7,145. It's doubtful any other property could be purchased for seven grand on Central Boulevard.
That was just the beginning of Ramiro's good fortune. The City Commission on that evening in May of 2014 was feeling especially generous, allowing Mr. Gonzalez to purchase the .245 acre tract for $7,145, but throwing in free two additional tracts of .64 and 1.089 acres. "Buy One, Get Two Free."
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| Ramiro Gonzales |
Just today we witnessed some heavy duty mowing and brush cutting on the property and wondered if Ramiro was getting ready to flip his investment for a hefty profit.
We'll keep our eyes out for construction startup on a new payday loan, plasma center or taco stand, enterprises that continue to proliferate in Brownsville.
Here is our report from May 2014.
Taking advantage of a city position to acquire property well below its value is not new to the City of Brownsville. In May 2014, the City Commission approved the purchase of a tract of land referred to as the "Lakeside easement" by then interim City Planner Ramiro Gonzalez.
Please note: The City Commission was feeling especially generous that night, allowing Ramiro to buy the .245 acre tract for $7,145, but throwing in two additional tracts of .64 and 1.089 acres at no addition charge, that is buy one, get two free.
Here is a May 17, 2014 on that matter by the Brownsville Observer:
Information found in the binder attached to the City Commission agenda indicates that an "independent certified appraiser" valued the tract at $7,145. Also conveyed to Gonzalez are two additional adjacent tracts of .64 and 1.089 acres.
We're not implying anything unethical with respect to a city administrator, in the course of his work, locating bargain properties for personal purchase, but it's certainly opportunistic.
c) APPROVAL on SECOND and FINAL READING of Ordinance Number 2014-1590, authorizing the City Manager to abandon and close a portion of Lakeside Boulevard Right-of-Way, located in the Brownsville Land and Improvement Company subdivision. (Carlos Lastra-Engineering)"
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Survey Showing 3 Properties
Acquired by Planner Ramiro Gonzalez
TALIBAN ESCORTS AMERICANS TO KABAL AIRPORT IN SECRET AGREEMENT WITH U.S.
Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
(CNN)The US military negotiated a secret arrangement with the Taliban that resulted in Taliban members escorting groups of Americans to the gates of the Kabul Airport as they sought to escape Afghanistan, according to two defense officials.
One of the officials also revealed that US special operations forces set up a "secret gate" at the airport and established "call centers" to guide Americans through the evacuation process.
The officials said Americans were notified to gather at pre-set "muster points" close to the airport where the Taliban would gather the Americans, check their credentials and take them a short distance to a gate manned by American forces who were standing by to let them inside amid huge crowds of Afghans seeking to flee.
The US troops were able to see the Americans approach with their Taliban escorts in most cases in an attempt to ensure their safety.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the arrangements, which have not been disclosed until now because the US was concerned about Taliban reaction to any publicity as well as the threat of attacks from ISIS-K if its operatives had realized Americans were being escorted in groups, the officials said.
Throughout the evacuation, Biden administration officials stressed that the Taliban was cooperating and senior officials stated they had committed to provide "safe passage" for Americans.
The Taliban escort missions happened "several times a day" according to one of the officials. One of the key muster points was a Ministry of Interior building just outside on of the airport's gates where nearby US forces were readily able to observe the Americans approach. Americans were notified by various messages about where to gather.
"It worked, it worked beautifully," one official said of the arrangement. As of Monday when the US completed its withdrawal, more than 122,000 people in total had been airlifted from Hamid Karzai International Airport since July and more than 6,000 Americans civilians evacuated. However, 13 Americans service members and more than 170 Afghans were killed in a suicide blast at the airport last week.
It is not clear if the Taliban who were checking credentials during these efforts turned away any of the Americans. There have been numerous reports that some Americans with passports and US green card holders were turned away from Taliban checkpoints close to the airport.
In another separate secret arrangement not disclosed until the operation was over, troops from the elite Joint Special Operations Command and other special operations units were also on the ground helping Americans escape by contacting them through "call centers," one of the officials said. Special operations forces set up their own "secret gate" at the airport and was at times in direct communication with Americans telling them exactly where to walk to find the gate and be able to get inside the airport.
Commander of US Central Command Gen. Frank McKenzie first publicly revealed the involvement of special operations forces at a Monday press conference saying those forces helped evacuate more than 1,000 American citizens and more than 2,000 Afghans "via phone calls, vectors, and escorting."
Special operations forces "reached out to help bring in more than 1,064 American citizens and 2,017 SIVs or Afghans at risk, and 127 third-country nationals all via phone calls, vectors, and escorting," he said. But in public comments, McKenzie did not specify the involvement of JSOC which includes forces that carry out the most dangerous counterterrorism missions such as the Army's Delta Force and Navy SEALS.
Monday, August 30, 2021
Sunday, August 29, 2021
CARLOS SANTANA PROMOTES CASA NOBLE TEQUILA
Add Carlos Santana, a native of Jalisco, Mexico, to that list, representing Casa Noble Tequila.
“When I visited the distillery, I immediately felt spiritually connected to the Hermosillo family and Casa Noble. Together we celebrate the gift of life and all of the blessings that come with it,” said Santana.
BOYS AND GIRLS, WE PRESENT INFAMOUS CON MEN OF THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES
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| Duardo Paz-Martinez |
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| Bernie Madoff |
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| Charles Ponzi |
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| Carlos Quintanilla |
VTOL TAXIS IN BROWNSVILLE BY 2025?
by Nubia Reyna, Brownsville Herald
VTOL Taxi Prototype in Paris
The City of Brownsville announced Friday that the Paragon VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) Aerospace has committed to 50 VTOLs for urban air taxi movement in Brownsville to begin in 2025.
The press release states that Paragon VTOL Aerospace are lead innovators and continue to make forward strides for intra-city transport.
“This commitment, momentous for the City of Brownsville, would enable the city to continue innovative and forward strides, reaching the next level of transportation, while pioneering breakthrough technologies,” it reads.
According to the city, the availability of such a service, from Paragon VTOL Aerospace, would reduce the amount of time needed to move within Brownsville and surrounding areas, with the VTOLs having a total of nine passenger seats, zero carbon and zero emission fuel systems, and maintaining a range that will exceed 550 miles.
Paragon VTOL Aerospace announced building its manufacturing hub in the City of Brownsville’s industrial park at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport back in June 2021. The company also develops flight management software systems to assist air traffic controllers, the release reads.
Paragon’s CEO and founder Dwight Thanos Smith said he stands with the City of Brownsville.
“I stand with the City of Brownsville, its people, and our commitment to the technological evolution of transportation and look forward to continuing this incredible partnership,” he said.
Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said this year there has been a continued growth and progress in VTOL developments in Brownsville.
“The promise of this new approach to air mobility is something that our city remains dedicated to with Paragon becoming the epicenter for VTOL manufacturing and distribution,” he said.
RE-DISTRICTING MAY NOT BE KIND TO RGV AS POPULATION GROWTH LAGS BEHIND REST OF TEXAS
BY RICK KELLEY, VALLEY MORNING STAR
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| Austin, TX and suburbs, among nation's fastest growing |
For years community leaders drew a portrait of a luminous economic future for the Rio Grande Valley as one of the fastest-growing regions in Texas.
But the 2020 Census has put this kind of talk straight to bed.
Census figures show that while almost all Valley counties showed increases in population in the past decade, the growth rate is far below many, if not most, other areas of Texas, where urban and suburban populations have exploded at the expense of rural areas.
The most direct consequence of this trend may be in redistricting, and the threat there is one of diminishing clout as the state’s political map is redrawn, analysts say.
Nina Perales is a redistricting expert who serves as president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a civil rights group. This week she addressed the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council.
“This is not the Texas of the past,” Perales said. “I know that we have a sort of traditional imagery of Texas as maybe a lone cowboy in a hat on a horse riding through a rural area, small towns. Texas is changing very, very fast and becoming a much more urban and suburban state.”
In the Rio Grande Valley, Hidalgo County posted a 12.2 percent population gain compared to 10 years ago, Starr County was up 8.1 percent, Cameron added 3.6 percent and Willacy County actually lost residents, down 8.9 percent.
These numbers were dwarfed by other areas in Texas.
Travis County, where Austin is located, saw an increase of nearly 200,000 people, or 18 percent, in the past decade and now stands at 1.2 million residents.
But the counties surrounding the state capital tell the story about the shift in suburban populations that is occurring in Texas.
Hays County to the southwest went from 157,107 residents to 241,067 in 2020, an increase of 53 percent.
Williamson County, located north of Travis, went from 422,679 residents to 609,017 residents in 2020, an increase of 44 percent.
In Bastrop County to the southeast of Travis County, the story was the same, showing a gain of 23,000 residents in the past 10 years, an increase of 31 percent.
“The population changes are quite stunning, in fact,” said Perales, for whom this will be the third state re-districting she has been involved with. “There is widespread and consistent loss of population in rural areas in Texas. And at the same time, really extraordinary population gains in Texas in large cities and suburbs.”
The U.S. Census is held every 10 years, and the population data collected during the nationwide survey is used for political redistricting in all 50 states.
Perales warned that the new suburban and urban reality in Texas could present a threat of a loss of political representation for areas that aren’t keeping pace.
“These considerations include the fact that we think rural areas and small cities are going to end up losing political strength, political voice in the capital,” she said. “And these districts, because they all have to have the same number of people in them, districts are going to start migrating towards the suburbs and towards large cities.”
“… In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the growth that the census captured did not keep pace with the rest of the state,” she added. “Normally, we think of the Valley and South Texas as being a population-growing area, but it’s not what the census data is telling us.”
Friday, August 27, 2021
REMEMBERING CONVICTED CON MAN CARLOS QUINTANILLA'S WORK IN BROWNSVILLE
It was 10-1/2 years ago when Carlos Quintanilla, a con artist with a RICO felony conviction under his belt for bilking G. Heileman Brewing Company of $800,000, came slithering into town.
At the time, the notorious flim flam man had significant other baggage; an alleged arrearance of $85,000 in child support, $12,000 worth of hot checks and liens for "theft of property" attached to his residence at 421 S. Dwight in Dallas.
As we reported back in 2011:
It was Quintanilla, the charismatic Hispanic flim flammer, representing a rich anglo with a 4 day old airline to sell, Fly Frontera.
The City Commission almost couldn't accept the deal fast enough, with then Mayor Pat Ahumada acting like a giddy school girl trying to convince her parents the bad boy was really "nice."
The proposed deal was so upside down for the city as to be almost laughable: first 23 tickets NOT sold guaranteed by the city at $135 per ticket. That would incentivize the fledgling airline to fly empty planes as they would use less fuel and Brownsville would pay anyway.
Fly Frontera also asked for $1,500,000 up front for licensing, fuel, spare parts, etc.
The quickly thrown together company didn't even have any planes, but Ahumada kept repeating himself when some citizens became aware of Quintanilla's multi-paged criminal record: "Don't blame the messenger! Carlos Quintanilla has nothing to do with the deal. He's just the messenger!"
Yeah, right. Is that why the company's business address is 421 S. Dwight Ave., Dallas, TX, the address of Quintanilla's home?(Quintanilla is still fuming about the breakdown of this con, threatening to finalize his lawsuit against me for my tiny part in snuffing out the scam. He describes himself as "putting the finishing touches on a lawsuit agains(sic) Mr. Barton for his killing of Fly Frontera")
Actually, it was a number of Brownsville citizens who stood tall at the City Commission meeting against this dumbass proposal: Craig Grove, Dino Chavez, Teresa Saldivar, Zeke Silva, and Laura Miniel among others.
Quintanilla returned in 2012 as front man for Ted Parker of Healthsmart, who was being sued by BISD for $14.2 million for insurance overbilling.
Quintanilla started a Political Action Committee to fund candidates for the school board who would vote to retract the suit, Cata Presas-Garcia and Lucy Longoria.
Eventually, Presas-Garcia, Longoria, Christina Saavedra and Enrique Escobedo agreed to settle the law suit for a mere pittance.
The con man had done his job.
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| Milk Project with Carlos Quintanilla, Cata Presas-Garcia |
Next, Quintanilla turned his attention to a "charitable" con, although as Bobby Wightman-Cervantes explained in the Brownville Voice dated 2/12/2012, Quintanilla's name was not attached to this con:
"Carlos Quintanilla remains relevant because he is promising to work with BISD Trustee Cata Presas-Garcia to bring to Brownsville his flim flam claims about feeding children.
The bogus nature of his claims are now part of his bankruptcy proceedings. The entire feeding program was a con wherein at best Quintanilla was table server of food paid for by the people of Texas.
He now wants to sue Texas for failing to pay him $30,000 for being a humanitarian.
His partner in the feeding program is Bruce Carter, a fellow convicted felon.
According to court documents Carter and his organization is facing a default judgment for $508,387 for non-payment for the milk used by Carter and Quintanilla to feed the children.
Quintanilla is not a named party because like I said, Quintanilla appears to have been merely a table server for Bruce Carter."
Thursday, August 26, 2021
VERA'S BACKYARD BARBECUE TO BE HONORED IN BARBECUE FESTIVAL AT MARKET SQUARE OCTOBER 17
by Julian Resendez, valleycental.com
Texas Monthly announced its lineup for the next Barbecue Festival Roundup Edition.
The festival is making a stop in Brownsville, Tyler, and Lubbock according to their website. Local restaurants are scheduled to be featured on October 17, 2021, at Brownsville's Market Square.
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| Armando Vera |
Vera’s Backyard Bar-B-Que is one of the local restaurants selected and owner Armando Vera said he is honored to be selected.
“My biggest thing that I’m proud of is coming from this area, which is the southmost area,” said Vera.
He shared that his family started the business in 1955 and their current location has been in operation since 1957.
He said the business was his childhood home and family business.
Vera said the restaurant is well known in the Brownsville community and across the nation, as he has been featured in multiple stories on television, in books, and in magazines.
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| Adelita Vera |
“It’s grown throughout the years and we’ve been blessed, super blessed, we’re known throughout the nation,” said Vera.
Vera’s food is widely known for its unique method of cooking in an underground pit.
He explained that the underground pit has been used since they opened in 1957 and the cooking process takes 10 to 12 hours.
Once his food is ready to sell, people start lining up inside the restaurant and at their drive-thru, for their chance to get some barbacoa and other items, before it sells out.
“The food is just simply the best, I like the barbacoa on Sundays, it’s kind of like a tradition,” said Brownsville resident, Charles Peña.
Vera said he appreciates his customers from the community and across the nation that visit his restaurant, making it a destination restaurant.
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