Thursday, September 10, 2026

BROWNSVILLE'S OWN IS NECK-TO-NECK WITH ABBOTT FOR GOVERNOR

THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND SHIELD...AGAINST BROWNTOWN PUBLIC

 


GARZISTA WARS AGAINST PORFIRIATO FOMENTED IN S. TEXAS

By Juan Montoya

Pick up any history book of the area and it’s a sure bet that you won’t find any mention of Catarino Garza. In fact, about the only recognition given in his native Matamoros is a small meeting room in the municipal palace (City Hall) bearing his name.

Yet, it the years between the mid-1880s and 1892, the so-called “Garzista Wars” were the talk of South Texas and northern Mexico, not to mention Mexico City and Washington D.C.

According to Texas Online, Catarino Erasmo Garza was born outside of Matamoros Nov. 25, 1859 to J. Encarnación and María de Jesús Rodríguez de la Garza. He was educated at Gualahuises, Nuevo León, and San Juan College, Matamoros, and served in the National Guard at Port Plaza.

Ignacio Zaragoza defeated the French at Puebla May 5, 1862, when Catarino was three. Five years later, when he was eight, the emperor Maximilian was executed in Guanajuato by the forces of Benito Juarez.

On the U.S. side, the Civil War erupted in 1861 and continued until 1865, allowing the French a free hand in Mexico; Lincoln telling his generals that he preferred to “fight one war at a time.”

During the period from 1859 to 1870, before Garza was in his teens, the U.S. and South Texas authorities were besieged by Juan Nepomuceno "Cheno" Cortina in retaliation for abuses against Mexican-Americans by Texas Anglos in the Brownsville area.

In 1876, Porfirio Diaz had overthrown Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, the constitutional president of Mexico. Lerdo de Tejada had succeeded Juarez after his death and later won the election. When Diaz revolted, Lerdo de Tejada went into exile in New York and never returned to Mexico.

On June 19, 1880, Garza married a Brownsville woman whom he later divorced in 1889. In 1890 Garza married Concepción González, the daughter of a Duval County rancher, with whom he had a daughter. Between 1877 and 1886 he lived in Brownsville, Laredo, and San Antonio and visited Mexico City.

Elliot Young, in his book "Catarino Garza's Revolution on the Texas-Mexico Border,"said Garza also lived in St. Louis, Mo. where around 1885 he was appointed Mexican consul, a post he held for a short time. In St. Louis he worked on La Revista Mexicana. While in St. Louis, he was angered by an Anglo lawyer who said that “One white life is worth 10 Mexicans.”

He promoted Sociedades Mutualistas and helped found two of them in Brownsville (Hidalgo and Juarez), Laredo, and others in Corpus Christi in 1880, 1884, and 1888, respectively. Up until the late 1960s, these buildings still stood in Brownsville.

Over the next 30 years after Diaz took office in 1867, he ruled Mexico as president or as the power behind the presidential seat. It was after the generally recognized fraudulent re-elections of Diaz that Garza started calling for revolution against the regime. However, while in the United States, he also witnessed racism against Mexican-Americans and condemned racist Anglo Texans and Mexican police alike.

He was the target of two assassination plots because of his articles on “El Libre Pensador” against Coahuila Gov. Garza Galan. He “antagonized all sides by criticizing everyone,” wrote Young. For his part, Garza wrote that Diaz and his collaborators “are not the country, nor the laws, nor the people; but are truly only servants.”

In 1877, he said that when Mexico came under Diaz was: “The moment when the sun disappeared and oppression reigned.” He also said in his autobiography La Logica de los Hechos: “Mi pluma no sabe pintar, pero si reproducir, fotografiar y estampar verdades (My pen does not know how to paint, but knows how to reproduce, photograph, and imprint truths).”

Also in 1877, he served 31 days in Maverick County Jail on a charge of libel. That year, he was in Corpus Christi to found the club Politico Mutualista and newspaper El Comercio Mexicano.
In 1890, Francisco Diaz Sandoval, a Chilean citizen fomenting revolution in Mexico and an exile in Laredo, invited Catarino Garza, Ignacio Martinez, and border journalist Paulino Martinez, to launch an invasion of northern Mexico.

The force entered Mexico at Guerrero, Tamps., on June 24. Mexican forces confronted them and sent them back across the Rio Grande, where the U.S. government, under pressure from the Diaz regime, charged them with violating neutrality laws.

During a trial in San Antonio, evidence indicated that Diaz had paid Laredo police chief Gen. Bernardo Reyes $2,000 to kidnap witnesses, plant evidence, and to provide false testimony and payoffs to witnesses. During the trial, no proof was introduced that they had taken guns to Mexico, and showed that the group had been infiltrated by spies.

Descendants of some of these men still remember vividly that as a result of their participation in the invasion, many of them lost their families, ranches and suffered imprisonment on the U.S. side.

In July, 1890, Dr. Ignacio Martinez met Catarino Garza at Palito Blanco, Tx., near San Diego. Martinez was a medical doctor who lived in Brownsville and operated an anti-Diaz newspaper. A few months later, on February, 1891, Martinez was gunned down on the streets of Laredo.

Garza continued his collaborations in northern Mexico and South Texas, and by 1891 he and his associates planned an invasion to overthrow of the Díaz regime. They crossed the border in an attack and issued a manifesto in September 1891 near Río Bravo in Tamaulipas.
While his revolution was directed against Mexican president Porfirio Díaz, much of his work forming mutualistas and writing for Spanish-language newspapers was aimed at defending the interests of Mexicans in Texas.

Conflict with Mexican, United States, and Texas authorities ensued in the Garza War, which Garzistas continued after Garza left Texas. What made it difficult for the authorities on both sides was the fact that the Garzistas enjoyed popular support from residents and some authorities on both sides of the border.

In documents seized by U.S. and Mexican authorities, it was revealed that not only did Garza have the support of officers high in the Mexican military, but enjoyed material and moral support from influential ranchers in U.S. and northern Mexico and elected officials and state and federal law enforcement authorities on the Mexico and Texas side.

Afraid for his safety, Garza and his brother Encarnacion left the state in 1892 and from there he traveled to various places, including Nassau, Jamaica, and Cuba. He met with Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti, but Marti was attempting to get Diaz's support for his liberation movement in Cuba, and they did not collaborate.

(Marti, by the way, has a monument erected in his honor in Washington Park in Brownsville.)

By March 28, 1893, he moved to Matina, near Limón, Costa Rica, and a San José press published his pamphlet indicting the Díaz regime, La Era de Tuxtepec en México o Sea Rusia en América. Garza participated in a revolutionary uprising in Colombia. Official sources report that he was killed in storming the jail at Bocas del Toro, Colombia (now in Panama), on March 8, 1895.

He was never able to return to South Texas, and it wasn't until three years later – in 1898 – that Cuba threw off the Spanish yoke only to be colonized by the United States.

Diaz was overthrown in by the Revolution of 1910, 15 years after Garza's death.
He was, by any measure, a man ahead of his time.

TRUMP BRIBE TO REPUBLICANS: $5,000 IF THEY KEEP CONGRESS RED


Special to El Rrun-Rrun

During the RNC midterm convention, President Donald Trump gave voters a financial incentive to vote for Republicans in the midterms.

About an hour into his speech, Trump said that if Republicans win the House and the Senate he'll issue a $5,000 dividend check to millions of Americans because of the economic prosperity the country will experience.

Trump said America was making "so much money" that he was able to promise Americans thousands of dollars in the future.Trump is promising every adult American a $5,000 “dividend” if Republicans win the midterms. Estimated price tag: about $1.35 TRILLION. Tiny problem: presidents don’t control the federal checkbook. Congress does. Also, where is that money coming from for this election bribe?

"Because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," Trump said. "Very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders."

Trump added that the dividend must be spent in the United States of America, saying he doesn't want people going to Canada, China or Germany to spend the money. It's unclear how the government would monitor the spending of the dividends.

"If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend," Trump said.

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

EL RRUN-RRUN TOPS 19 MILLION AND GOING FOR 20 MILLION

THE MEDAL OF HONOR, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER, WINNING...

BREAKING: a photo has emerged bolstering President Trump's claim that he was at 'ground zero' on 9/11.



THE DOCTOR SAYS
 

TSC HOSTS MEXICAN CONSULATE 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE FEST THIS SATURDAY (12)

A CENTURY OF NURTURING EDUCATION IN OUR COMMUNITY

100 years. Generations of Scorpions. Join us September 14 for TSC Generations Day! 

GUS DE LEON: I (ALMOST) GOT AWAY WITH IT! BUT I'M A NICE GUY!

AND THEN, AFTER THE ASPHALT-MILLINGS SETTLEMENT PLOT, THE 445-ACRE SPACEX GIVEAWAY,  THE BOGUS ASSASSINATION PLOT BEHIND A RANDOM DRIVE-BY SHOOTING, COMES THE "NICE GUY" NARRATIVE
As can be seen in this video he posted, the car was speeding away from the camera and toward a low-cost apartment complex near the intersection of Boca Chica and Palm Blvds. 

By Victoria Sanchez
(AKA) Dorothy Lee Sanchez

This situation has deeply affected Commissioner Gustavo De León… and because I truly care about him and his family… it hurts me to see what they are going through…

He stated that he will be laying low for a little while… but he will be back!!! We need Commissioner De León in office… we need leaders who listen to the people and treat the community with dignity and respect…

He has been the only commissioner who continued communicating with me after the elections… He didn’t have to do that… but he did… It was also reported that he met with Yolanda, aka Yoli Speece, and with the city attorney…Did you know that??? Well, now you know.

We will soon be holding a town hall meeting with Commissioner Gustavo De León… He wants to hear directly from the community about the needs and concerns of District 3… but everyone in Brownsville will be welcome…

His responsibility may be District 3… but his willingness to listen goes beyond district lines… because the decisions made at City Hall affect all of Brownsville…

This town hall is about transparency… community input… public safety… and giving the people a voice…

Commissioner Gustavo De León… take the time you need… Brownsville will be waiting for you… stronger than ever!!

HEY, THIS TRICK STILL WORKS IN BROWNSVLLE 400 YEARS LATER















By Maria
Special to El Rrun-Rrun

In the September, 23, 1626, American folklore tells us the Indians sold Manhattan to Dutch colonists for $24 of beads and trinkets. In the early 21st century, August 2026, to be exact – almost 400 years ago to the day – history repeats itself in Brownsville.

On the table for the City Commission was $220 million for water projects. All SpaceX wanted was a 444-acre piece of Brownsville's city limits transferred into the jurisdiction of its company town, the City of Starbase. But the deal had to be done fast - take it or leave it.

The City Commission, in all its naivete, believed SpaceX's deal to be of enormous value. And its deadline to be real.
They told the public, "We have no money and no water. Now we will."
They told the public, "They would have gotten jurisdiction anyway through a lawsuit."
They told the public, "We have no leverage, but we got a deal of a lifetime."

The Indians of Manhattan probably thought the same.

But like the Indians, Brownsville's leaders did not realize how much leverage they had.
It was time.
SpaceX wanted jurisdiction over the 444 acres. And they wanted it **now**.

They dangled $220 million. Not to be spent as the City Commission saw fit. Just for water.
Why? Because water is a critical input to their operations. No water, no growth.
What if the City Commission could just sleep on it? Make the case to the public?

Sorry, SpaceX Vice President Sheila McCorkle, Starship Legal and Regulatory said, "then no deal."
SpaceX said, "boo" and the City Commission got spooked.

As soon as the deal closed, SpaceX began construction in earnest. Who knows what they're doing. But it's clear: time mattered.
So what if the City Commission had let the deadline pass? Is it believable SpaceX would have taken water off the table?

More likely, they would have come back - and upped the ante.
To SpaceX and the world's richest man, $220 million is pocket change. What could the city have **really** gotten from SpaceX, besides this "pretend" gift?

Whatever you may think about Musk's intelligence and how that's contributed to his success, it is his boldness that stands out.
He makes bets. He tests limits. He pushes until somebody pushes back.
The City Commission didn't push back.

Brownsville still waits for bold leaders.
In the meantime, the current ones will keep collecting beads and trinkets.

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

SPEND YOUR WEEK NIGHTS WITH THE ELKS: BETTER YET, BECOME A MEMBER!

THE GUS DE LEON ASPHALT-MILLINGS "DUMPING" SAGA CONTINUES

 


Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The principals involved in the controversy surrounding the police complaint filed by Commissioner Gus de Leon against the City of Brownsville for allegedly "dumping" tons of asphalt millings to repair a private road belonging to his family's trust for which he was trying to negotiate a $1.2 million "settlement" is not dead yet.

"There are still some people asking questions about it," said a city administrator. "We're not done with this yet."

The case erupted in July 7 when the public learned through social media that De Len had been negotiating with City Manager Alan Gard, City Attorney Will Treviño, and his colleagues on the city commission for compensation for the alleged illegal dumping, the sale of the property – or both – and that negotiations were stuck at $700,000 to $900,000.

Critics were outraged that a sitting city commissioner would threaten to sue the city he represented, that he was personally involved in negotiating a settlement for unimproved property valued at $250,000 by the Cameron County Appraisal District – with two city employees he could hire or fire –  and which had been in the real estate listings offered for $850,000 since 2018 without any takers. 

An item in the commissioners' July 7 executive session agenda read: 

8) Closed session pursuant to Tex. Gov't. Code Section 551.071 (Consultation with Attorney, including Contemplated or Pending Litigation and/or Settlement Offer) related to CCAD Property ID 30393. (Office of the City Attorney/ City Manager's Office)

The notice and the possible "settlement" drew wide public attention and no action was taken that day. But what the public did not realize was that the item had been in consideration during regular city commission meetings before July 7 and as far back as the June 16 city commission meeting. After it became public knowledge, the item never appeared on the city commission agendas again. And the threat of the De Leon family filing suit against the city never materialized after the public furor that erupted.

City residents learned that:

City crews had been allowed to enter the property and make road repairs based on an informal agreement between his late father – and also a former city commissioner – Ernesto de Leon Sr. and the Border Patrol dating back from his election in 2003 until his death in June 2022. 

“This road leads to the backside of the property, all the way back. The only people who have permission to use this property are the U.S. Border Patrol, and that permission was given to them by my late father,” De Leon said. De Leon says he discovered city crews working on the property on May 4, 2026. He says he immediately contacted the city attorney. 

"When we came out here together, we came out here several times. I would say it was about four different times we walked the property; we were in awe. Very surprised this happened," De Leon said. 
De Leon then filed a police report and sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding the work stop.

"That went unanswered for three days until they finished this road. So work kept going for three days, and the dumping kept on for three days," De Leon said. De Leon says more than 17,000 square feet of materials were left on the more than 10-acre piece of land.

"This is probably .94 acres, almost one acre of millings that were thrown on here and about five inches deep," De Leon said.

A local contractor's estimate of road improvements on the De Leon family property. Photos and construction materials amounts were provided to local media by commissioner De Leon.

Had filed a complaint with the Brownsville Police Department May 4, but that the crews continued to make improvements on a private road inside the family's 10.5 acre property for three days after he had reported the alleged trespass.

A city employee said that based on the informal agreement, the Border Patrol would call Public Works and crews would go out there and make the repairs to the road that they needed.

That is why the city was taken by surprise when De Leon threatened to sue for alleged "damages" and "illegal dumping" and entered into negotiations with the city starting at $1.2 million and scaling it down to $700,000 to $900,000 before it became public knowledge that the settlement would be discussed July 7.

Later, on July 16, the public learned that the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security took possession of the property under a lease with the De Leon family and heavy equipment and cement trucks were seen entering and exiting through the improved entrance and the road leading to the construction of the Border Wall. 

Interestingly, the asphalt millings were spread (dumped, according to de Leon), at the entrance, and along the road and ended near the section where the wall is being constructed. Did the lease with the DHS require guaranteed access and improvements to the road?  

De Leon also told KRGV News 5 representatives July 14 that he was the executor of the De Leon Vera family's property, only to have trust executrix Nora Ramirez De Leon attend the city commission meeting and telling the commission otherwise. Did De Leon misrepresent himself as the property's executor and negotiate with the city for a settlement without legal authority? Did he see an opportunity to pocket a few city bucks and tried to take it?

Like the city administrator said above: "We're not done with this yet."

OH, OH, GUNFIRE!: HIDE THE CITY COMMISSIONERS! DO ANY OF THEM LIVE NEARBY?

 

Where is Gus De Leon, John Cowen and and Tino Villarreal? "We’re scared… what is happening to Brownsville. We can’t go outside anymore."

Monday, September 7, 2026

"HAY QUE TRABAJAR PARA VIVIR, Y VIVIR PARA TRABAJAR! SALUDOS!


Happy Labor Day.

Labor Day is about the people who make Texas run — the teachers, the nurses working doubles, the line cooks, the construction workers, the people up before sunrise for a job that still doesn't cover the rent.

That's who I'm running for.

We can deliver a Texas that works for the people who actually do the work. 

Where a family doesn't lose everything to one medical bill, and where the people keeping this state going aren't the ones getting left behind.

But we can’t do it on our own. 

Greg Abbott has $67 million to spend to keep things exactly as they are: with our government catering to corrupt special interests instead of regular Texans. The only way we beat that is together.

Every grassroots donation helps us reach voters, run ads, and make the case that Texas can do better.

Make a donation of any amount today to help build the Texas every worker deserves.

ON LABOR DAY, YOUR GOLFER-IN-CHIEF CONTINUES TO WASTE YOUR $$$$

o
The folks who barely work at all - except to flame the culture wars – complain about being underpaid, get healthcare for life... Wow. Even WE didn't see this one coming.


Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Independent trackers estimate that the taxpayer cost of Donald Trump golf-related travel and security has climbed to nearly $115 million.

The figure has also revived comparisons with former President Barack Obama, whom Trump spent years criticizing for playing golf while in office.

He repeatedly promised voters he would break the pattern if elected. "I'm going to be working for you," Trump said at a 2016 campaign stop. "I'm not going to have time to play golf."

An independent tracker estimates that Trump's golf-related travel and security costs have reached nearly $115 million during his second term. Is Trump Golfing Today?, which tracks the president's public schedule using flight data and White House pool reports, puts the total at $114.97 million as of August 3.

The nearly $115 million estimate builds on previous reporting about the cost of Trump's golf trips. HuffPost calculated Trump's golf-related travel and security costs at $101.2 million as of late March, when he had golfed 110 days in just over 14 months in office. 

Based on that pace, the outlet estimated Trump could spend about $300 million on golf-related costs by the end of his second term.

Beyond the cost, watchdog groups have also tracked how frequently Trump has visited his own properties since returning to office. 

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) found that, as of mid-June, Trump had made 259 total visits to his properties, including 148 to golf courses, and had spent time at a property he owns on 191 days, or 37 percent of his first 512 days in office. Mar-a-Lago was his most-visited property, with 102 trips.



Sunday, September 6, 2026

GUNFIRE BY COMMISSIONER GUS DE LEON'S HOME WAS INCIDENTAL TO TEENAGE DRIVE-BY SHOOTING; NOT FAKE POLITICAL RETALIATION

Special to El Run-Rrun

Rumors abound as to the identity of the suspected gun person(s) that are reportedly already in custody. Mayor John Cowen confirmed that it happened early Saturday. Unofficial reports indicate that at least nine rounds were fired.

And sources heretofore reliable say that the fact that it happened in the vicinity of commissioner Gus de Leon's home was incidental and that no evidence exists that he was the "target."

They say the suspect is a 16- year-old, a minor under state law. Officials would not confirm. Initial reports do not point to any retribution against de Leon for any official acts.

Tellingly, the mayor's statement that "political intimidation and violence" have no place in local politics may distract from the real motive behind the apparent drive-by shooting. The most controversial vote that De Leon – and the rest of the city commission have made lately – was their total cowardly abject submission to Elon Musk's coercion and their abandonment of municipal authority over 445 acres near the Port of Brownsville to his SpaceX.

By that measure, all of them should be cowering from the outrage of Brownsville citizens. The random drive-by shooting and Gus De Leon's response reminds us of the biblical Proverbs that say: "The wicked flee when no man pursueth," or more plainly "They panic and hide, even when no one is chasing, blaming, or accusing them."

Nobody is saying a shooting should be ignored. Gunfire on a public thoroughfare or outside anyone’s home is serious, and whoever did it should be found and held accountable.

But that still does not give politicians the right to call it political when police have not said that.

Brownsville Police has not publicly identified a suspect, announced a motive, or said the shooting was politically motivated. Yet, Cowen was already talking about “political intimidation and violence,” and Villarreal used the shooting as a reason to cancel his town hall on the SpaceX and BPUB agreement.

That looks less like caution and more like City Hall trying to gain sympathy while changing the subject.

For weeks, people have been questioning the decisions coming out of City Hall. The rushed disannexation. The SpaceX water agreement. The questions surrounding Commissioner Gustavo De Leon’s family property. The money involved. The way these decisions have been handled.

Now suddenly the conversation is about elected officials being threatened.

That is convenient.

Instead of answering for their own decisions, they get to stand in front of the public as victims. Instead of people asking hard questions, people are supposed to feel sorry for them.

Maybe police will later come out and say the shooting was political. If they do, then there should be evidence to support it.

But until then, the political narrative is coming from the politicians, not from police.

And people should pay attention to that.

A shooting does not erase the bad decisions City Hall has already made. There is widespread opinion that the city may have prevailed against SpaceX in a court of law. 

The fabricated political targeting does not erase the unanswered questions. And it should not be used to shut down criticism or make the public feel guilty for demanding answers.

FIVE-TIME DRAFT DODGER – GEN. BONESPUR – WANTS MEDAL OF HONOR

NATIONAL DISGRACE: This is an affront to anyone who served in the military. It's absolutely terrible that he's pictured wearing the Medal of Honor. He has said multiple times that "he would like to have one." It’s like dealing with a six year old. What did the MAGA morons always hate? Stolen Valor?
Willing to bet no MAGA supporter is going to criticize this piece of shit for the total disrespect to veterans and the military.

Saturday, September 5, 2026

GUNFIRE BY COMMISSIONER GUS DE LEON'S HOME WAS INCIDENTAL. RUMORED SUSPECT IN CUSTODY SAID TO BE 16 YEARS OLD.

Rumors abound as to the suspected gun person(s) and that they were already in custody. Mayor John Cowen confirmed that it happened early today. Unofficial reports indicate that at least nine rounds were fired.
 And sources heretofore reliable say that the fact that it happened in the vicinity of commissioner Gus de Leon's home was incidental.
They say the suspect in custody is 16 years old, a minor under state law. Officials would not confirm. Initial reports do not point to any retribution against de Leon for any official acts.

Tellingly, the mayor's statement that "political intimidation and violence" have no place in local politics may distract from the real motive behind the apparent drive-by shooting.

IN THE EVENT THAT YOU SEE YOURSELF LOSING THE MIDTERMS, RIG THE VOTE


By Amy Howe
SCOTUSblog

The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon, asking the justices to temporarily pause an order by a federal judge in Boston that blocks the government from implementing parts of a U.S. Postal Service rule on mail-in ballots. 

U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court that the order by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani “partially nullifies the Postal Service’s efforts to address the risk that the federal mails will be used to perpetrate voter fraud – a particularly pernicious species of fraud that dilutes the votes of lawful voters, prevents election results from reflecting the will of the American people, and undermines ‘public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.’”

Thursday’s filing was the second time in less than six weeks that the Trump administration came to the Supreme Court seeking to clear the way to implement restrictions on mail-in voting. 

In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order  that directed federal agencies to take a series of steps on mail-in voting. The first provision instructs the Department of Homeland Security to create lists of the adult U.S. citizens in each state and to send those lists to states at least 60 days before a federal election. 

The second provision tells the U.S. attorney general to “prioritize the investigation and, as appropriate, the prosecution of State and local officials … who issue Federal ballots to individuals not eligible to vote in a Federal election.” 

And the third provision requires states to give the U.S. Postal Service a list of voters to whom the states intend to send mail ballots, and it prohibits the USPS from mailing ballots to voters who are not on the lists of “enrolled” voters that the USPS will create.

A group of 23 states, led by California, and the District of Columbia went to federal court in Massachusetts to challenge the government’s implementation of the order. They argued that the executive order conflicts with provisions in the Constitution that give states the power to determine voter eligibility and to set the “Times, Places, and Manner” of holding congressional elections.

To read the rest of Howe's excellent article, click on link: https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/trump-administration-asks-supreme-court-to-clear-the-way-for-it-to-implement-new-mail-in-voting-/

A LABOR DAY 52 YEARS AGO, MEMORIES OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS


By Alan Schaefer 
Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University
Juan Montoya

In the waning days of the summer of 1974, several of us who were attending summer classes at Texas Southmost College heard about the megaconcert being planned at Texas Stadium in Austin.

ZZ Top would be there, as would be Santana, Bad Company and Joe Cocker. Three of us were at TSC were in our early 20s, and we took a friend, a longhair named John Bassett, the son of a missionary to Mexico who shared our love for the hippie lifestyle, and who was a fluent bilingual who spoke Spanish better than we did having grown up in the ranchos and ejidos of Tamaulipas around Victoria.
 
The event was billed as “ZZ Top’s First Annual Texas-Sized Rompin’ Stompin’ Barndance and Bar B.Q.” The price of admission was $10 at the stadium gate. Even though we had no car, we were undaunted and we each stuffed a backpack with an extra set of clothes and a toothbrush, a snack, and we stuck out our thumb on the expressway. Two rides and seven hours later, we were in Austin.

We didn't know it at the time, but  approximately 80,000 other hard rock fans filled the stadium and its newl-placed Astroturf under a mighty Texas sun for the first and only "ZZTop Barndance.” Later we learned that other kids from Brownsville were also there, including Emilio Crixell, who would later form the Connectors with Joey Tamayo, Albert  Besteiro, and Freddie Longoria who started their musical careers in humble venues like Brownsville's Amber Pub or Joe Schull's' New Rising Sun across Central Blvd.

According to writer Shaefer, the seeds of the concert were planted in 1973 when UT student government was facing budget cuts. He wrote that student government financial director Barry Leff devised a plan to throw a fundraising concert, and he set his sights on the mighty Memorial Stadium. 

But first, there was one man who had to approve of its use: University of Texas football coach and winner of multiple national championships Darrell K Royal. An already legendary figure on the Forty Acres, Coach Royal approved the plan thinking it would never actually come to fruition. Further, UT itself had to contend with Bill Ham, ZZ Top’s tough-as-nails manager.

The upstart Leff, who eventually pursued a lengthy concert promotion career, assembled the heavyweight lineup, anchored by ZZ Top riding high off the success of the album Tres Hombres. Bill Narum, the Houston-born artist and countercultural bon vivant, who would go on to serve as ZZ Top’s art director, designed the concert poster. 

Coach Royal didn’t believe Leff’s claim that perhaps 10 or 20,000 would show up. But the stadium filled to capacity and then some. The BBQ ran out, and then it seemed like potable water might, too, which was a bit of an issue on a sunny Labor Day weekend in Texas. 

At any given time, a lit joint would appear after being passed from either side of of where we were seating. You puffed and passed it  down the road. Things were different in those days.

The show went off into the late hours, with the fans treated to an onstage appearance of legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page joining Bad Company to the pleasure of the crowd. Santana kept us waiting in the sweltering heat until just the right moment when the sun was setting in the west and Carlos Santana came on with his trademark lead of Black Magic Woman guitar intro echoing through the dying rays of the sun. 

Cocker was loaded when he sang his set, but no one could tell the difference. And of course, ZZ Top sizzled to close the show past 10 p.m.

Just when we thought things couldn't get better, we walked over to a theater on Sixth Street to catch a movie and found ourselves in line to watch Andy Warhol's Frankenstein in 3D. We thought the 3D was a dud until it started to snow all around us in the dark theater. A collective gasp went up from the audience as the bizarre cult movie wowed everyone. 

Blood spurts and gushes from the neck stump as huge scissors cut someone's head. A fish glides then stops suspended in midair (water?), turns around and faces you and puckers its lips as you look through an aquarium in the middle of Frankenstein's laboratory watching the doctor and his guests go down a stairway on the other side. Cool, dude! 

Later we learned that some damage to the hallowed ground for Longhorn football had occurred to the Astroturf during the concert, mainly burns from marihuana roaches dropped by fans who were on the field. Still, the university would never open the stadium gates wide for rockers again, and this first annual Barndance and BBQ was also the last.

 The ZZ Top album Fandango! commemorated the epic day with a photo insert of the full stadium, captioned: “Austin Summer ’74 with 80,000 friends.”

Friday, September 4, 2026

DR. MESSAGE

THE DOCTOR SAYS:
When a Student Struggles With Math, We Should Ask Why

Imagine a child – we’ll call him Johnny – who begins struggling with math in elementary school.
He studies. He tries. But numbers simply don't make sense to him the way they seem to make sense to everyone else. Year after year, Johnny falls further behind. His teachers may not understand why. His parents may not understand either. Other children may tease him. Eventually, Johnny may begin believing what no child should believe about himself: “Maybe I'm just not smart.”

But what if Johnny has dyscalculia?
Dyscalculia is a learning difficulty that affects a person's ability to understand numbers and mathematical concepts. A child can be intelligent and capable in other subjects and still struggle profoundly with math. If we don't identify that child early, the consequences can follow him from elementary school through middle school, high school and eventually to the doors of college. In Texas, students may encounter another major barrier: the mathematics portion of the Texas Success Initiative Assessment, or TSI. 
A student who has struggled with an unidentified math-learning difficulty for years may find himself taking the exam repeatedly while watching classmates move ahead. By then, we are addressing the problem far too late. The better question should have been asked years earlier: Why is this child struggling with math?

Before treatment, find the cause
As a physician, I learned that you cannot properly treat a problem until you identify its cause. Education should be no different. Teachers and parents need the knowledge and resources to recognize possible signs of dyscalculia early. Children should be identified, evaluated and given appropriate educational interventions before years of frustration damage their confidence and limit their opportunities.

A child's difficulty with numbers should never become a judgment about his intelligence, motivation or
potential. Before we allow another Johnny to spend years believing he simply “can't do math,” we need to ask why. Sometimes the most important thing we can give a struggling child isn't another test. It's an answer.

Physician. Conservative. Fighting for Brownsville's Future.
Click on link to go to her website: https://drcisnerosfortexas.com/

"THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME" 1ST OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

MOMENTUM GATHERS AGAINST GUERRA ON THE EVE OF NOVEMBER ELECTIONS: EN QUE TRABAJA EL MUCHACHO?


 

"OH WHAT FOOOLS THESE BROWNTOWN RUBES MUST BE..."

Sheila McCorkle, VP of Starship Legal and Regulatory at SpaceX, is captured rolling her eyes during public comments voicing opposition to the project she was attempting to rush through at a Brownsville meeting on behalf of SpaceX.

 By Stephanie Koithan,
San Antonio Current

The South Texas city of Brownsville has approved the disannexation of 444 acres of land in a rushed deal with billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX that displayed the “lopsided power dynamics” between the municipality and the galactic Goliath, news site myRGV reports.

The purpose of the land grab is still officially a mystery. SpaceX declined to state how it plans to use the land, according to media reports. However, activists say there’s evidence the company plans to use the property to build a water-hungry data center and gas-fueled power plant in the resource-strained region.

Opponents of the transaction raised the alarm over the company’s tactics, which they said were so secretive that even the mayor and city commissioners didn’t know the details of a deal they unanimously approved during a nighttime meeting last Saturday, myRGV reports.

SpaceX, an aerospace company valued at $1.9 trillion, asked for the property near Brownsville’s port to be removed from city limits and the municipality’s extraterritorial jurisdiction. That means the city, which has a population of nearly 200,000, surrendered its zoning, permitting, ordinance and taxation authority over the property — without knowing why.

As part of the transaction, SpaceX will invest up to $220 million in Brownsville’s water supply, but the offer, called Project Quantum, was only on the table if city leaders accepted the deal that day, according to media reports. Brownsville officials cited the city’s water scarcity as their reason for approving the deal.

“We put the residents first tonight,” Mayor John Cowen Jr. told the Brownsville Herald. “We look at this as a very historic moment for the city. Water is a huge issue in South Texas and around the state, and this decision today will ensure that Brownsville be a place for future generations to live, and for our continued growth as a city.”

At the same time, the company offered little explanation for why it requested the disannexation.

SpaceX executive Sheila McCorkle, Vice President of Starship Legal and Regulatory, was present at the hearing and said the business would take the matter to court if need be, according to activists who attended the hearing.

A ‘rush’ but ‘the reality’

City commissioners requested 72 hours to deliberate but McCorkle denied their request, saying the deal would soon be off the table, according to the report by myRGV.

“I did not feel comfortable with the pace here. I made that statement to SpaceX privately and publicly,” Brownsville Mayor John Cowen said at the meeting. “We wanted to, at the very least, move this to Tuesday.”

“I appreciate it’s a rush, but it’s the reality,” McCorkle said.

Community members spoke against the deal during Saturday’s meeting, even though city commissioners themselves hadn’t seen the Municipal Annexation Plan prior to the public comment period.

Upon receiving the plan 90 minutes after the meeting’s public comment concluded, city officials shared details of the project with the crowd. Even after public comment had ended, video footage shows that members of the community continued to speak up. Police escorted some out of the building.

“You keep talking about the pros of the deal but what are the cons?” one woman asked before being

escorted away, as shown in video of the meeting shared by independent journalist Uriel Gavito.
Brownsville officials said they believe the project is positioned near the port to take advantage of the shipping channel, but they otherwise appeared to know few details, Brownsville business owner John Morales said in an online post..

Though SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches rockets, McCorkle ruled out rocket launches and engine tests on premises in her remarks, Morales added.

“But after the six-hour meeting, the public was never told exactly what SpaceX intends to build there,” he added in an Instagram video.

Activists also drew attention to the timing of the high-pressure hearing, which occurred during an unconventional time to hold a city meeting

Data center suspicions

The Saturday meeting — with its “act now!” one-day offer — occurred just three days before the Brownsville City Commission was scheduled to hold a Tuesday workshop on implementing a 90-day data center moratorium.

Activists said the timing is no coincidence, adding that signs suggest SpaceX plans to develop a data center. Suspicion to that end began building weeks ahead of the company announcing its plan to disannex the property.

On July 16, Brownsville residents received a letter in the mail from the city’s Planning and Zoning Committee explaining that an unnamed company plans to build a data center within city limits. The notice was met with fierce opposition from the community.

According to a city notice, Brownsville’s proposed regulations could include requiring the computing facilities to obtain a special permits while investing in closed-loop water cooling systems and sound-reducing landscape buffers.

The regulations also could limit future data center facilities to five acres in size and require that they maintain at least a one-mile separation from residential neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, places of worship, and other data centers, according to a city press release.

However, none of these regulations would apply to land outside city jurisdiction.

Data center job postings

After Saturday’s meeting, activists found SpaceX job postings for a data center in the area, which prompted further speculation that the disannexed property would be used to create a massive computing hub.

One new job listing is for a data center mehcanical engineer position at Starbase, Texas — SpaceX’s corporate campus near Brownsville. The listing mentions needing someone to oversee water cooling systems for data center racks.

 Another listing for a Power Plant Engineer position mentions gas turbines, indicating that SpaceX plans to build a gas-powered plant on the premises to serve a data center.

“SpaceX is building and operating combined-cycle gas turbine power plants that must come online, stay online, and perform,” the job listing states. “This role owns the design and build of the full power plant: gas turbines, mechanical and electrical balance of plant, and everything else that keeps the plant running at rated output, day after day.”

Requirements for the Power Plant Engineer position state that the ideal candidate must have “experience integrating power generation with co-located industrial or data center loads.”

Another listing advertises a senior legal counsel position for a SpaceX data center located in Brownsville, Texas.

According to its listing, the legal counsel position would “provide expert legal guidance on developing large-scale datacenter infrastructure and supporting utilities, including land acquisition and development, datacenter construction, on-site power generation, electrical transmission and distribution, gas pipelines and fuel supply, water and wastewater systems,” among other issues relating specifically to data center operation.

rita