From the editor: A reader asked for a menu of the old U.S. Bar near the zocalo in Matamoros. I've reposted a menu from the Texas Bar, my favorite hangout, which sat catty corner across from the U.S. Bar back in the day. This must have been from the 70's because I recall a dinner with two entrees going for $1.50 in the 60's. . . filet mignon, pheasant under glass, frog legs, etc.
submitted by Rene Torres
"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." William Shakespeare
Even before he left office, former Democratic State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. (pictured above) sought solace and recognition among Texas Republicans, even endorsing Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for reelection.
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| Yzaguirre and "Rami"Martinez |
Even former City Commissioner Rick Longoria was said to have been approached by Yzaguirre promoting his new boy toy, Jesus"Rami" Martinez.
If it strikes you as unusual for a 36 year office holder to be openly supporting for office a newbie from the opposing political party, just remember the words of Shakespeare with regard to "misery seeking strange bedfellows," a truism we're seeing at work in our town.
Addendum: Something I forgot to mention is Garcia's promise to do a complete audit of Yzaguirre's office. While at one time Yzaguirre faced 22 charges for bribery and abuse of office, 7 of the charges were dropped while he was acquitted of the remaining 15 charges. Should an audit uncover any "new evidence" of corruption, Yzaguirre can be prosecuted on those counts. That's reason enough to work hard to guarantee the candidate promising an audit of the office is not the one elected.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." Oscar Wilde
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| Eddie Garcia |
"In the past 10 months alone since the passage of Senate Bill 2, our office has issued over $15M in refunds in Cameron County," Yzaguirre is quoted as saying.
Just to be clear about Yzaguirre's role in all this, it was the Texas Senate that upped the Homestead Exemption from $40,000 to $100,000. Yzaguirre's role was simply to suggest that Homestead Exemptions be initiated at the time of closing, requiring title companies include that in their paperwork.
The current Democratic candidate for tax assessor/collector, Eddie Garcia, feels somewhat flattered by these adjustments as educating the taxpayers about the various tax exemptions available has been part of his platform since Day One.
Montoya also warns Garcia not to "overturn recognized efficient operations" or "make wholesale personnel changes," acting unaware of Garcia's promise to not do that, including members of the Yzaguirre family employed in that office.
Garcia, as an experienced administrator, wants to simply set a tone for the office that will be reflected in the service given to the citizenry.
After a 6 year stint in the U.S. Air Force, Garcia worked 32 years for the Brownsville Police Department, including 20 years leading the Brownsville City Employees Credit Union and 4 years on the BISD board.
When asked how county tax assessing and collecting would be different under his leadership, Garcia's answer was short: "Customer service."
"My emphasis will not be just Brownsville, but improving service in all of Cameron County," Garcia said at a recent event.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.
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| Rep. Andy Harris |
"We know how people in those counties would vote anyway," stated Harris, who chairs the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives.
Since the state legislature is majority Republican, what Representative Harris is actually saying is "give our state's electors to Trump."
Another Republican, Rep. Patrick McHenry, told reporters Friday he hadnโt heard about the plan proposed by Harris, but that โit makes no sense whatsoever to prejudge the election outcome. And that is a misinformed view of what is happening on the ground in North Carolina, bless his heart.โ
From the editor: This blog has experienced a slow, steady climb of readership since we returned from Iowa where my wife did three stints as a travel nurse last year.
No, the pageview numbers don't come close to our 2013-14 coverage of the inexplicable BISD bus fires, nor our 2015 stories related to the hit-and-run death of Mary Tipton which topped out at 19,973 for our largest ever number of daily pageviews.(OK, a false rumor we reported about a supermarket moving into the former K-Mart building did get over 26,000 pageviews.)
It's also to be noted that, although "all politics is local," we've been focused on the presidential campaign, not so much on who holds a justice of the peace position locally.
IMHO, the result of this presidential run will set the tone for our country for decades to come.
Having a wannabe dictatator, who admires Putin, Orban, Jong Un and Xi, hold our nation's highest office will totally test the other two branches of our government to provide checks and balances for such a rogue office holder.
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| Nixon, Kissinger |
At a campaign rally in New York's legendary Madison Square Garden, comedian John Hinchcliffe joked about an "island of floating garbage in the middle of the ocean we call Puerto Rico."
Before that racist quip, the Trump rally comedian had this to say: "Latinos love making babies. They do. . . They come inside and there's no pulling out, just like they did to our country."
For those who think Trump himself doesn't view all Hispanics as inferior, don't forget his statement as he rode down the gold escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 to announce his candidacy for President, referring to "Mexican Nationals" as "rapists" and "criminals."
The pushback was swift from noted entertainers in the Hispanic community from Puerto Rico, with Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony issuing statements condemning the remarks from the Trump rally while endorsing Kamala Harris for President.
What Trump seems not to understand is that residents of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, paying taxes to our treasury.
Trump's ignorance and racism was on full display when 2017's Hurricane Maria devasted the island, and U.S. citizens found themselves without food, electricity or clean water while Trump repeatedly blocked aid from being sent to the country.
While the island rocked from the devastating storm, Donald Trump discounted FEMA's death toll figures and publicly fought with San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz Soto over what support the island needed.
It wasn't until just before the 2020 election that Trump finally released a $13B aid package for the island.
U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico will not forget Trump's suggestion of trading Puerto Rico for Greenland or his cavalier, sarcastic tossing of paper towel rolls at citizens lacking clean water and electricity.
Trump's racist mishandling of the Hurricane Maria recovery, in itself, demonstrates his absolute unfitness to hold public office.
From the editor: Baseball historian Rene Torres sent these photos from display cases in the San Benito Public Library:
From the editor:
A Red Mass is a Catholic Mass annually offered towards all members of the legal profession, regardless of religious affiliation: judges, lawyers, law school professors, law students, and government officials, marking the opening of the judicial year. The religious service requests guidance from the Holy Spirit for all who seek justice, and offers the legal community an opportunity to reflect on the power and responsibility of all in the legal profession.
Local officials and church officials who participated in this solemn ceremony in conjunction with the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville are pictured below(photos courtesy of Jerry Danache):
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| Photo by Jerry Danache |
The Cameron County Sheriff Deputies Association endorsed the candidates pictured above for the 2024-25 general and school board elections.
Some are mathematicians, some are carpenter's wives
Don't know it all got started, I don't know what they're doing with their lives. . . .
Dylan, "Tangled Up in Blue"
I've just finished a 750 ML bottle of San Simon Tempranillo after ignoring the Government Warning on the label because "Hell, I'm not a pregnant woman."
An inner conflict that's been raging for days concerns my hometown listing on Facebook.
For years now the listing has been Kent, Washington, but deep inside I knew that was wrong, so wrong, disloyal and wrong.
Sure I finished high school at Kent-Meridian. . . "Onward mighty Kent-Meridian. Foes tremble at the feet of Kent-Meridian."
That's a lie. No "foes" trembled at the feet of Kent-Meridian. The only reason we beat Seattle Garfield, an all-Black high school, is that we had some very tall white boys who could play.
But, Renton, the home of the Boeing Aircraft Company, is my real home town.
As a ten year old, I got a job with the Seattle Times circulation department. We had to pay for our papers, a wholesale rate, then tried to sell them for the retail price and pocket the difference. Since, back then, the papers only sold for a dime, profits were slim.
In downtown Renton I tried an approach I'd seen in the movies: "Extra, extra. . . read all about it."
That never sold any papers and I soon quit, no richer than when I started.
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| Henry Ford Elementary, Renton, Washington |
Our precision unit marched each morning to fulfill our mission. When I commanded "Attention!" my two troops saluted. This was not child's play because, with the mere dispatch of a flag, we could stop a speeding car on the highway.
We didn't abuse our authority, though, usually waiting for traffic to subside, before setting up our crosswalk operation and placing our metal girlfriend in the middle.
Since it was usually drizzling during recess, we had the option of square-dancing with the girls in the gym or playing b-ball outside in the rain.
Since I knew how to dribble around puddles, I usually quarterbacked the team although few shots went into the crooked rim without a net. The wet, outdoor game was such a futile effort, although one could work up a sweat even in the rain.
Well, that was Renton. My ne'er do-well dad briefly worked for Boeing's boiler room in Renton until he lost that job, too.
Anyway, I've been typing about Renton, but thinking about Kent and a life-changing moment I totally fumbled.
In the crowded corridors/halls of the very populous Kent-Meridian H.S., I was gently approached by the most beautiful girl in that school or any school. . . . . I won't reveal her name as she's a woman of some substance, living in Olympia, Washington's capital.
So athletic and beautiful, I can still close my eyes and visualize her with the rest of the cheerleading team, her long legs kicking up into air, her obvious assets so apparent to us all.
Yet, the gorgeous woman did stop me in the hall with a ridiculous question so carefully framed: "Jim, I've heard that you're a genius."
Stunned, my fundamentalist religious upbringing took over and all I could think to say was: "Oh, no. That's not true."
"Well, that's what I've heard," the Russian girl responded, obviously wanting to extend the conversation.
All I could think of was the ruddy-faced Joseph facing seduction by Potiphar's wife and I'm sure I ran like the wind and like a fool to not be tempted, except there was no temptation, just an attempt at adult conversation by a rare beauty totally unaffected by it, just natural and real.
Shit. I could have at least offered her a ride home in my '59 VW bug. Her Russian dad might have been gruff, but I'd have won him over once I convinced him of my honorable intentions.
Of course, I was a stupid, undeveloped, late 16, early 17 year old, who'd gotten out of bed, splashed his face with water, ran a wet comb through his hair, then donned t-shirt, jeans and a pair of Jeeper's Creepers, those $1.99 slip on tennis shoes from J.C. Penney, now face-to-face with an actual Miss Universe, who was so unaffected, so natural, thinking so little of herself, she didn't even realize she wasn't just out of my league, but in a different stratosphere.
In retrospect, we're both now 76, have lived our lives, so all this means nothing, except for the might-have-beens etched in my memory. She'd be oblivious to all that and certainly gracious at some high school reunion if I ever went to one.
I'm certain you've scoffed when folks have referred to the man you support as a Fascist, or worse yet, an Adolf Hitler.
According to Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly, Trump told him that "Hitler did some good things" and also asked "Why can't you be like the German generals?"
No, Donald J. Trump has not come close to the mind-blowing atrocities of Hitler, the German leader who exterminated 6,000,000 Jews and tortured and conducted human experiments on 2,000,000 more in concentration camps.
Yet, recently, when Trump said Haitians and other immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our nation," did you know that quote was almost verbatim Hitler?
Were you aware that when Trump referred to his political opponents as vermin, that was the same term Hitler used to refer to social democrats, communists, trade unionists and other political opponents?
Of course, Hitler wanted to purge Germany of anyone he felt weakened the genetic makeup of the country. That included the disabled. (Do you recall Trump mocking the disabled?)
Hitler wanted to rid Germany of, not only Jews, but Roma, Sinti, Blacks and Slavics, anyone not of pure Aryan bloodline. (Correct me, Erasmo Castro, but isn't your family partially of Romanian or Roma ancestry?)
Trump's obsession with deporting law-abiding, legal Haitian immigrants from Springfield, Ohio was not because they were raping, pillaging and terrorizing the town. They were not. By all reports, they were model citizens who worked hard and contributed to the community.
Trump's disdain for the Haitians in Springfied was based on pure, unadulterated racism, the primary fuel that feeds his unhinged mind.
Overt racism also fueled the language Trump used as he descended the golden escalator in 2015 to announce his candidacy for President, referring to Mexican Nationals as "rapists" and "murderers."
Interestingly, Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump, claims Trump was fascinated by Hitler, keeping a copy of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand.
While he denies it now, Trump has told others that he read Hitler's most famous literary work, Mein Kamf, which means "The Big Lie."
Hitler used lies to stay in power. He lied about using violence, lied about his own past, lied to world leaders about his intentions, lied about what he called the "Global Jewish Conspiracy."
Nowdays, many refer to the claim that the 2020 election was stolen as the "Big Lie," although Trump also lies when he says countries are "emptying their prisons and insane asylums" to send those folk to the U.S. as immigrants, lied about the size of the crowd at his inauguration being the "largest ever," ran for office by lying about where Obama was born, lies almost daily about women "executing" their babies after birth, lies about voter fraud constantly, lied claiming 3,000 did not die in a Puerto Rico hurricane. All told, Trump has told thousands of lies since he came on the political scene in 2015. Like many compulsive liars, Trump uses lies, not just to deceive, but to control.
Lรผgenpresse is German for the "lying press," a term Hitler used to describe the media of his day. Sound familiar? Trump calls "them" the "fake news." Same difference. Same technique used to weaken reporting efforts.
"Look at them back there," Trump tells his MAGA crowd while pointing to the back of the hall.
"They will go home and write lies. They're fake news."
If you're still reading, Cameron County Trump supporters, does any of this ring true or am I just part of "fake news?"
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| Attending Wednesday's Forum; Jonathan Gracia, Morgan LaMantia |
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| Charles C. Butt, H.E.B. CEO |
The group invited candidates for Senate District 27 and Texas House District 37 to the forum, including Morgan LaMantia, Democrat and Adam Hinojosa, Republican, for District 27 and Janie Lopez, Republican, and Jonathan Gracia, Democrat, for HD 37. (The two Republicans, Janie Lopez and Adam Hinojosa did not attend with no explanation given for their absence.)
Actually, I'd passed the BISD Administration Building on Price Road on my way, but Brownsville's Central Public Library has long been my comfort zone for voting.
Republican operative Veronica Cruz was working the line, I believe illegally, warning voters against some enormous school bond issue that didn't even appear on the ballot. The elderly couple behind me nodded in agreement when I said that Mrs. Cruz' actions, well within the "no canvassing" barrier, was improper, but nobody called the Brownsville's Police Department to report the violation.
Only 47 showed up to vote at the Los Indios Community Center. I'd considered driving out that way just to see if Candidate for U.S. Representative Mayra Flores might be spotted cultivating or weeding the cotton fields nearby, but that trip would likely have been simply a waste of petrol.
Yes, there's a misspelling on the graph above, entitled "Countywide Genral Election[SIC]," but Cameron County Election Administrator Remi Garza has a lot on his plate this time of year.
Donald J. Trump keeps giving the American electorate a clear choice in choosing exactly the type of person they want representing our country to the world.
Before an audience of men, women and some kids Saturday in Latrobe, PA, Trump was verbally fixated for 12 minutes on the size of late golfer Arnold Palmer's penis.
โArnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women,โ Trump said.
โThis is a guy that was all man.โ
Then he went even further.
โWhen he took the showers with other pros, they c they came out of there. They said, โOh my God. Thatโs unbelievable,โโ Trump said with a laugh. โI had to say. We have women that are highly sophisticated here, but they used to look at Arnold as a man.โ
Of course Trump told us years ago that his personal fame presented him with the frequent opportunity to "grab" women "by the pussy," simply adding evidence of his juvenile fascination with genitalia.
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Even more disturbing are Trump's planned retaliation against any and all who disagreed with him in his first term. In recent days, Trump has frequently repeated his promise to use the U.S. military against the "enemies from within," who he says endanger our country "more than Russia or China." He refers to these "enemies" as "very bad people," "sick people, radical left lunatics."
"I think it could be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen."
When Trump has furnished actual names of these "enemies" he wants to go after in a second term, he's mentioned Representative Adam Schiff and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Mike Pence, of course, is now seemingly out of the way.
"They're Marxists and communists and fascists, and they're sick," Trump tells us.
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| Former Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley on the left |
Trump will not be pleased if he reads Milley's assessment of Trump as revealed in Bob Woodward's latest book, "War."
"He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he's a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country, a fascist to the core," said Milley.
It's embarrassing, but nearly half of our country's electorate continue to fall for Trump's dangerous anti-American schtick.
Early voting in Cameron County starts Monday, October 21.
ADDENDUM: Hopefully, voters will not fall for the claim that "Trump doesn't really mean that" as those who've been closest to him in the government state otherwise.
Saint Matthew Chapter 12, Verse 25: "And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, 'Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand." NASB
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So, what is the purpose behind each town having their own version of a single political party,[i.e.], the North Cameron County Democratic Party and the South Cameron County Democratic Party? Since the two towns aren't separated by an all day trip via horse and buggy, is there some philosophical difference that necessitates two separate Democratic groups in a single county? We threw that question out for discussion at the Eddie Garcia for Tax Assessor/Collector Event Saturday at DK's Bar and Grill, without getting a definitive answer. (Even Democratic Party operative Mario Saenz seemed perplexed by the existence of two Democratic Party groups in this single county.)
While we've not visited any meetings of the NCCDP, we've noticed County Democratic Chair Jared Hockema's active participation at SCCDP meetings, even monitoring the live stream.
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| Yvonne Barraza |
Ms. Chavez, whose candidacy is being supported by the local Democratic Party, stated there was no ill will between her and Barraza, but that she'd been planning this city commission run "for a long time."
Barraza told me what had been reported in the El Rrun Rrun blog, that, while she felt all Democratic candidates would be welcome at a SCCDP event, when she placed her push cards at various tables, she was told by leader Rose Martinez to "pick them up."
What was explained to Yvonne Barraza was that, although she was a member of the Democratic Party, a Cameron County resident and a candidate running on the Democratic ticket, she was not an actual "member" of the Southern Cameron County Democratic Party. "They" had already endorsed their candidate, Denise Chavez and Yvonne Barraza was simply "out of luck" with respect to utilizing the local Democratic machine to support her candidacy.
The SCCDP was described as a mere "club" and and the those running that "club" were free to choose who could join the club and who could not.
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| Denise Chavez |
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| Cameron County Democratic Chair Jared Hockema |
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From the editor: I've been following the misguided attempts by the Trump administration to discredit the accomplishments and honors give...
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