Saturday, April 9, 2022

CAMERON COUNTY REPUBLICANS BURY THE HATCHET, ACCEPT ROMAN PEREZ BACK IN LEADERSHIP ROLE

 

"I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, to torment me."  2 Corinthians 12:7


Roman Perez, Vice Chair, Cameron County Republicans

For years now the Cameron County Republican Party has been afflicted, tormented, tortured by a disenfranchised, disenchanted disrupter in their midst.  

Roman Perez, at least twice a former candidate for office locally, a documenter and chronicler of party history, a gadfly, has been a painful thorn in the rear of the local Republican Party for some time now.

Roman's work has been that of a behind the scenes underminer, rumor spreader, contention sower, but, all that is past history.


Morgan Cisneros Graham
As Morgan Cisneros Graham, chairperson of the Cameron County Republican Party, explained to me today:

"Roman and I are working together.  It appears that years ago we were played against each other.  We've put our differences behind us."

Then, as to Roman's future possible role in local party leadership, Ms Graham held back:

"I have several appointments, but haven't formally announced them."

Well, with all due respect to Ms. Graham's promised announcement, Roman has already let that cat out of the bag.

Roman's twitter page describes him as "Vice Chair, Cameron County Republican Party"

We congratulate the young man on his new assignment in the local party.



ANNOYED ELON MUSK THREATENS TO MOVE SPACE OPERATION TO FLORIDA

 

SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy rocket stacked for the first time at  Starbase in Boca Chica, TX. August 6, 2021. The first stage, Super Heavy, is silver. The second stage, Starship, is covered in black thermal protection tiles. The two stages combined also are referred to as Starship.
Photo Credit: SpaceX



The most recent hiccup at SpaceX Boca Chica was the withdrawal of SpaceX's application by the Army Corp of Engineers to expand their test site at Boca Chica to include an additional 10.94 acres of mudflats, 5.94 acres of estuarine wetlands and .28 acres of non-tidal wetlands.

The Army C of E pulled SpaceX's application because SpaceX had ignored certain requests for information.

The Federal Aviation Agency's P.E.A. or Preliminary Endangerment Assessment is due for release April 29.

Elon Musk's response to these governmental agency attempts to protect our air, land and water is to threaten to take his ball and go home, that is to move the whole operation to Cape Canaveral, Florida.(Ten years ago Musk used a similar approach to gain original approval, pretending that Brownsville was in competition with Puerto Rico and Florida for the project, prompting local politicals to do somersaults to approve.)

Musk has also been coy about plans to build a 250 megawatt LNG power plant at Boca Chica that would be fed by a 10-inch pressurized natural gas pipeline.


Former County Judge Cascos
While originally supportive, former Cameron County Judge and current candidate for that office, Carlos Cascos, had this to say:  "I have been suggesting for quite some time that I believed the contract entered into with SpaceX was not being adhered to.  The county has been aware of these issues and failed to enforce the contract.  It is my understanding there are no amendments to the contract.  Thank you to "Save RGV" and DA Luis Saenz for bringing this to the forefront."

The group mentioned by Cascos, "Save RGV," headed by Bill Berg and John Young, found SpaceX to be in gross violation of the Memorandum of Understanding drafted 9/01/2013, finally signed by Space Exploration Technologies(SpaceX) and five governmental agencies in 2014/15.

They approached Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who, in turn, sent a letter to SpaceX detailing the violations.

Although, as Cascos stated, the original MOE allowed for no amendments, Musk bypassed the agreement, going directly to the FAA to get adjustments to beach closing requirements.  

While those noncontractual adjustments effectively doubled the allowed annual time for beach closings, Musk has not even honored those adjustments.

SpaceX Founder Elon Musk, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez

Giddily onboard from the get-go, although not legally in control of Boca Chica, has been the city government of Brownsville, including Mayor Trey Mendez and the City Commission. 

$10 million was donated by SpaceX to the city for downtown improvements and another $20 million promised to the Brownsville Independent School District, likely influencing the city's perception.

Meanwhile, the second stage of Starship has been launched a total of five times; the first four launches failed while the fifth launch proved successful.

Friday, April 1, 2022

"ALEX TAMEZ: A CUT ABOVE THE REST" by Rene Torres

 

"Alexis Tamez: A cut above the Rest"(written by Rene Torres when Alexis was 12 years old)


Entering the pitching cage, sounds of “Classic Rock” greet your ears, which follows with popping echoes from a catcher’s mitt—a familiar sound when Alexis delivers her fastball.

We cannot call her a softball star yet, but she is ghastly good enough to dominate her age group with a sizzling fastball. 

She is a sixth grader at Oliveira Middle School, and, at this point, is barely tapping into her potential.

Her love affair with the game started at five years old at East Brownville Little League. Since that “T” ball experience, her interest in softball has turned into passion. 

Inside the white lines, her inspiring personality activates the enthusiasm of others, making it easy to connect with her teammates.

Alexis uses finesse to deliver a flash of lightning. Her fastball travels 45 to 48 miles per hour, which equates to about 70 mph in baseball, a rare deed for a 12-year-old.

During her private weekly practice sessions—she is lip-locked, and her opinion is silent as she is keenly attentive to the given instructions. In other words, she is very coachable. 

Oh! By the way—she doesn’t wear your typical sports headband. She makes a fashion statement by wearing a vintage style piece that takes you back to the 1960s.

While it’s not in her character to display a smile while in practice—she will, on a timely basis, reveal a sliver of a grin. 

Her biggest supporter, her mother, sits mere steps away from her investment. With all good intensions, murmuring, whether great or trivial, her approval and/or disapproval of her work.

If your straight ball, regardless of speed, becomes habitual, the pitcher tends to be more predictable and hittable. Therefore, Alexis, not wanting to be ushered to the dugout because of her predictability, is working on a couple of knee bending curveballs to complement her fastball, an arsenal that spells trouble for her future middle school opponents.

Regardless of the situation, she works quickly and calmly from the mound, and rarely cracks under pressure. Perhaps this is something she learned from playing select ball for the past two years. The traveling team concept provided her the opportunity to gain immeasurable experience.

Alexis has certainly not mastered the art of pitching yet, but, if she continues to blossom with every pitch, it’s inevitable that next year she will be a dominate figure on the mound.

The pitching ace is also making waves in the classroom—the scorebook from that arena, demonstrates that she is an excellent student. She consistently makes the roster of the “A” honor roll while sparkling on the diamond.



Five years later…  Alexis, now 17. . Rene Torres continues the story


Today, Alexis has earned a place as the ace of the Veteran Memorial High School softball team.

As a 12-year-old, she had some blind spots about the knowledge of the art of pitching, but, now, at 17, she's gained valuable experience and maturity— helping her to develop an arsenal of pitches.

Pitching requires not only physical skills, but cognitive skills as well,  and she has established both to the fullest.

Evidence of that was displayed in the last few weeks:

Alexis was spectacular on the mound against Rio Grande City by keeping the batters guessing for seven complete innings and pitching a shutout, winning 13-0.

On her next appearance against Edcouch Elsa, she was consistently on target. Edcouch put zero numbers on the board with Veteran's winning 11-0.

Against Porter, she went the distance—standing tall for seven innings, dispatching batters to the dugout with frequency and pocketing another win, 15 to 0.

Then, against Pace, she brought her reputation to the hill, tossing a two hitter, a 13-0 shutout.

In closing, she will be the first to tell you that every victory has come as a result of team effort.

Every time she steps on to the hill, is a page to turn and a journey to experience, creating lasting memories for her and her teammates.

You can predict your future by what you do today.

From what we’ve seen from Alexis this season; her future will be replete with mighty victories.