WHERE'S MELANIA COMPLAINT ON HATEFUL AND VIOLENT RHETORIC?

FOR GONZALEZ, WINNING IN ABBOTT- GERRYMADERED DISTRICT WON'T BE A CAKE WALK

By Eric Benson
Texas Monthly

W hen Vicente Gonzalez was first elected to Congress to represent Texas’s Fifteenth District, in November2016, he looked to have won the kind of seat where the general election is a formality. The Rio Grande Valley had been a Democratic stronghold for decades, and Gonzalez’s predecessor, Rubén Hinojosa, had rarely faced a serious Republican challenge.

With Donald Trump ascending to the presidency for the first time and talking about a “big, beautiful wall” and “bad hombres,” heavily Latino South Texas seemed likely to get only bluer.

Instead, the opposite happened. Starting in 2020, South Texas swung dramatically to the right, and Gonzalez has been fighting tough reelection battles ever since. Now, after the Legislature’s overhaul of Texas’s congressional map, he finds himself running in what has become a solidly red district.

(President Trump would have won the new district by ten percentage points in 2024.) 

On March 3, Gonzalez easily won his primary. But in November’s general election he’ll face Eric Flores, a former federal prosecutor who was endorsed by Trump, and likely millions of dollars in spending from the national Republican Party, which is targeting the district.

Gonzalez, though, thinks he’ll prevail. From the start of his career, he has ranked among the most conservative Democrats in Congress, and in 2025 he was named a co-chair of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition. In the previous cycle he showed himself to be something of a political unicorn, a Democrat deeply attuned to his district who is capable of winning thousands of Trump voters.

Texas Monthly sat down with Gonzalez in late January in Corpus Christi, his hometown, part of which is a new addition to his district.

TEXAS MONTHLY: You won’t remember this, but you and I met briefly when I was covering the Beto O’Rourke–Ted Cruz senate race in 2018.

VICENTE GONZALEZ: That was a good year. I won by twenty points. It’s very different now.

TM: You went from that landslide in 2018 to barely winning at all in 2020.

VG: Seven thousand votes—which is still a lot of votes but a major difference from where we were two years before that.

TM: Did you see that coming?

VG: No, but I did sound the alarm to the D-triple-C [the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee], in Washington, that I was seeing Latinos fascinated with the whole Trump movement. We had a ton of voters that had never voted come out for the first time. Dems thought they were coming out to vote against Trump. Trumpers thought they were voting for Trump—and they sure as hell were, by about two to one.

TM: When you talked to people who voted for Trump in your district, why did they say they were Voting for him?

VG: I call it lucha libre politics. It wasn’t about policy; it was about excitement. He was able to bring excitement to a population, and that shocked a lot of people around the country.

TM: But he was the same guy in 2020 that he had been 2016. What changed?

VG: It’s hard for me to give you a scientific answer.

TM: I’m not asking for a scientific answer. I’m asking for your opinion.

VG: Well, that gave him four years to be in office and create another following. People got to see him in action, and he excited the nonvoting population and brought an untraditional, unconventional voter out. Then in South Texas, in 2020, the [Republicans] hit me hard on the Green New Deal and oil-and-gas jobs. I chair the oil-and-gas caucus for the Democratic Party, so I’ve been as pro-energy as any me. I support their industry, and I support a lot of other things that they believe in. Some of them are also like, “Okay, I don’t agree with Vicente on a hundred percent, but I agree with him on ninety percent, and I trust him.” I think really it comes down to trust. I do what I feel is right for my district even when it’s not popular in my party.

TM: And now your district has changed again, and you’re in a plus-ten Trump district.

VG: And we’re going to win it again.

TM: How?

VG: People are really upset at some of these Trump policies. Health-care costs have [risen] for working-class Americans. Inflation persists when it comes to rent, when it comes to food, when it comes to utilities. The American people are struggling right now. On top of that they’re seeing all these policies that are an eyesore for the country. Tariffs that have created inflation for so many people. The world—I mean, we have a president who’s talking about invading Greenland, for God’s sake. He’s got a lot of normal people that voted for him saying, “Wait a minute, that’s not what I signed up for.”

TM: When you talk to people in this district who have made a U-turn on Trump, what do they say to you? What are the biggest issues?

VG: I think the ICE raids are a major issue for Hispanics. Across the country, we’ve seen veterans, people who wore our uniform and fought for our freedom, being handcuffed and mistreated by ICE. It’s heartbreaking for a lot of Latinos. Some of them say, “I voted for him because the border was out of control, but I definitely don’t agree with all this that’s happening.”

TM: More recently, you were one of seven House Democrats to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Two days later, Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis. New York Congressman Tom Suozzi, who voted with you, said afterward that he regretted his vote. Do you?

VG: The reason I voted for that bill was not because I was in support of ICE. ICE had seventy-five billion dollars from the “big ugly bill” that Trump passed last cycle that I voted against. If we’d shut the government down based on that DHS vote, it would have only affected other agencies—airport security, the Coast Guard, FEMA. It doesn’t affect ICE at all. It shouldn’t be misconstrued for support for ICE or the behavior that we’ve seen.

SO TRUMP THOUGHT THAT THE FBI'S COMEY HAD HIS NUMBER?

She walks the sandy, salty shore,

To find the treasures, evermore.

She gathers shells, both small and white,

And arranges them in the morning light.

A secret message, etched in sand,

With ocean gifts upon the strand.

She shapes the bits of coastal life,

And leaves a note to stir the strife.

Eight thousand shells, then six hundred more,

Are scattered wide across the floor.

Forty-seven added to the heap,

While secrets of the ocean sleep.

The numbers rest within the sand,

Placed by a careful, steady hand.

A coastal count of salt and spray,

Before the tide rolls them away.

THE POT AND KETTLE: TRUMP AND GOPS' HYPOCRISY IS BRAZEN

 Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Jimmy Kimmel responded directly to Melania Trump during his opening monologue on Monday night after the First Lady called for his firing: "I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it."

"You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We've all been there, right? What a day.

"As you know, they had to cancel the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington on Saturdaynight after a man with multiple guns and knives crashed the party and may have shot a Secret Service officer. Fortunately, the guy was wearing a bulletproof vest and is okay. He was charged today. No one was hurt, thank goodness. A lot of people were shaken up on a night that is supposed to be light-hearted.

"The White House Correspondents' Dinner, if you don't know, it used to be an annual event before Trump showed up, but every year they'd have a comedian roast the room. The President, the Vice President, members of the press—everybody got roasted. I did it once; I hosted it. It was a lot of fun.

"But this year they said, 'No comedian. We're bringing in a mentalist instead.' So on Thursday, three days before the event, in order to keep that cherished tradition alive, I did my own version of the correspondents' dinner on my show. 

"I put on a tuxedo. We pretended we had an audience of luminaries. We used old footage of the Trumps, of Pete Hegseth, J.D. Vance, Kid Rock, Vanilla Ice, all the members of his cabinet, and we made it seem like they were all together in a room. We had a little roast.

"Again, this was Thursday, and there was no big reaction to it until this morning when I greeted the day facing yet another Twitter vomit storm, and a call to fire me from our First Lady, Melania Trump, saying I should be fired because of a joke I made, again, five nights ago.

"It was a pretend roast. I said, 'Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at her. So beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.' Which obviously was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they're together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he's almost 80 and she's younger than I am. 

"It was not, by any stretch of the definition, a call to assassination, and they know that. I've been very vocal for many years speaking out against gun violence in particular.

"But I understand that the First Lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house. And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. 

"And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it... because, by the way, I also should point out: Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you, and as am I, as are all of us. Because under the First Amendment, we have as Americans a right to free speech."

AND THE NEW BROWNSVILLE CITY MANAGER WILL BE...WHO KNOWS?

CITY OF BROWNSVILLE NEW CITY MANAGER WILL BE....???

EXECUTIVE SESSION

1) Closed session pursuant to Tex. Gov't. Code Sections 551.071 (Consultation with Attorney) and 551.074 (Personnel Matters) to deliberate the appointment, employment, or duties of a public officer or employee, pertaining to the city manager, including city manager candidate interviews. (City Commission/ Office of the City Attorney/ OD&HR Department)

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Those of us who looked on in the televised City of Brownsville Commission special meeting and waited some two and one-half hours to see who the commissioners  would choose to be the city's next city manager were disappointed after they emerged from executive session and...chose no one.

The decision had been delayed for two meetings due to indecision and then the absence of the mayor and  two commissioners and postponed until this Tuesday. But after the marathon executive session, no cigar.

The five candidates narrowed down from an original pool were Interim City Manager Alan Gard, Brownsville Police Chief/Asst. City Manager Felix Sauceda, Assistant City Manager Doroteo Garcia,  Steve Williams, City Manager of Schertz, Texas, Majed Al Ghafy, City Manager, DeSoto, Texas, and Edwina "Edy" Benites-LM, Interim Director of Economic Development, Jefferson County, West Virginia.

The eventual choice (if ever) will permanently replace former city manager Helen Ramirez, who left at the end of 2025.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS, BUT MY KID TURNED INTO A GOYEM...

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

A Jewish son tells his father he is moving out. 

The son returns a year later and tells his father that he has converted to Christianity. The father is upset and calls his friend who is also Jewish. 

“You won’t believe this, my son David moved out for a year and came back and told me he converted to Christianity.” 

His friend says, “you won’t believe this...my son Benjamin moved away for a year and when he came back HE converted to Christianity too”! 

Both upset, they call their rabbi and explain what happened. 

The rabbi says, “you won’t believe this, my son Joshua moved away and when HE came back he told me he converted to Christianity too”! 

The rabbi suggests they call God and tell him. The rabbi tells God that all three men had sons who moved away and converted to Christianity and don’t know what to do. 

God says to them, “you won’t believe this...

EARLY VOTING TOTALS FOR TSC, BND, LAGUNA VISTA SET FOR SATURDAY

TSC EARLY VOTING TOTAL:

BND EARLY VOTING TOTAL:

LAGUNA VISTA EARLY VOTING TOTAL:

AUTHOR ON UTB-TSC PARTNERSHIP CREDITS ADELA WITH SAVING TSC

By David E. Pearson, Ph.D.
Author of Partnership Affairs: The Fall of a Community University
Publisher: ‎ Southmost Books
Publication date‎ October 15, 2025

The May 2 Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees elections feature a candidate, Adela Garza, who can rightly be credited with saving the community college.

Most of us probably remember how, more than a decade ago, TSC was in a partnership with the University of Texas at Brownsville. This “community university” had a vast number of stresses and internal contradictions. These included separate budget centers, sources of revenue, and ownership of property. 

There was an internal clash of  cultures between two different classes of faculty, staff, and students. There were two distinct missions with two separate governing bodies in place to pursue them. 

By the end of the first decade of this century, the partnership’s community college component had withered. Relatively little money was going into vocational and technical programs. Tuition had increased substantially. There was no real champion on campus for TSC.

The nature of the partnership had caused one of its components to become a figurative orphan, and it was perhaps inevitable that at some point the orphan would grow up and run for office.

Enter Adela Garza. 

Winning Place 1 on the board in 2008, she insisted that the trustees had the right to exercise real decision-making authority. Especially so when it came to the board’s legally prescribed fiduciary obligations to community college students and district taxpayers. 

Feeling the Board of Trustees was simply being used as a rubber stamp for administrative decisions, she began asking questions about campus issues large and small. A number of construction projects then in progress were hugely over budget, and she took a stand against what she saw as fiscal irresponsibility. 

To Adela, the community college’s functions and constituents, its mission and its resources, were not simply means for supporting the larger partnership: they were ends in themselves – ends which had been improperly subordinated to the institution’s university component. 

Yes, she believed that. She had, after all, been elected as a trustee of Texas Southmost College. Adela’s spirited defense of TSC shook up the partnership. The administration responded by trying to put in place a new operating agreement to govern the institution’s two components. 

Rhetorically this was cast as a marvelous thing, something that would guarantee a brighter future for the students and people of South Texas. In truth it was a ploy to strip the TSC board of its authority through a series of contractual agreements giving the university almost complete operational and budgetary control. 

By the fall of 2010, that ploy was on the verge of success. Today, TSC would not exist in anything but name had it not been for Adela’s extraordinary defense of the community college. 

* She provided hard evidence of the university’s plan to seize total institutional control. 

* She rallied a majority of the trustees to defend their community college. 

* She successfully lobbied the Texas legislature, resulting in SB 1909 and HB 3698, bills mandating that Brownsville be the home of an independent community college. 

“I am so proud of what we have accomplished,” she said afterwards. “I go back sometimes and I realize what a big role I played.” Not just a big role. Adela Garza played the key role in giving us the Texas Southmost College we have today.

EARLY VOTING:

April 20-28

ELECTION DAY 

May 2

(David E. Pearson, an Army veteran, graduated magna cum laude with honors in sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University and was a postdoctoral fellow in international security studies at The Ohio State University. During his career he has served as professor of sociology, as academic senate president, as host of the radio show Society Under Fire, as founding director of the Dual Language Certification Program, as vice president for partnership affairs at the University of Texas at Brownsville, and as dean of the campus at San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley Campus, where he is currently emeritus professor.) 

To order book, click on link: https://www.amazon.com/Partnership-Affairs-Fall-Community-University-ebook/dp/B0FWFHVNM1?ref_=ast_author_mpb

SOUNDS LIKE THE LADY (SHE'S NO LADY) DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH...

Occupy  Democrats

BREAKING: Melania Trump publicly throws a tantrum about Jimmy Kimmel roasting her at his “alternative” White House Correspondents' Dinner, demanding ABC FIRE him!

Ze First Ladee did not find Kimmel’s jokes about her very funny; if we had to wager a guess, it was probably the part where he said “Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania. That was my impression of Jeffrey Epstein,” that REALLY set her off.

Her bizarre “I was not sex-trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein, so stop saying that I was” press conference makes it clear that she is very sensitive to the issue…and has something to hide.

In a very rare public statement, Melania publicly denounced Kimmel for “hateful and violent rhetoric” and demanded that the parent company, ABC, stop “enabling” his “atrocious” behavior:

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”

“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

“A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”

“Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community?”

Hey, Melania, if you are concerned about “hateful and violent” rhetoric, maybe you should have a talk with, we don’t know, YOUR HUSBAND, who does nothing but spew hateful and violent rhetoric all day and throughout most of the night.

If she’s really so concerned about people linking her to Jeffrey Epstein, maybe she should appear before Congress and testify under oath.

Sounds like the lady doth protest too much…

DUELING ENDORSEMENTS: EDDIE FOR SHARIFF; GONZALEZ FOR GARCIA

 

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
As far as anyone can remember, we have never had local candidates for the board of the Brownsville Navigation District endorsed by other candidates on top of the ballot.

Both candidates for Place 2 – Shariff Gonnella and David Garcia – are being endorsed by other candidates, Gonnella by Eddie Treviño, the incumbent Cameron County Judge, and Garcia by District 34 U.S. Rep Vicente Gonzalez.

At the local level, Treviño has been reelected to office twice, and Gonzalez is running for re-election after the original district was changed to favor Republicans from the Corpus Christi area. 

Endorsements, besides giving candidates a boost, also carry some risk. Although the race for the BND is strictly nonpartisan – as is the Texas Southmost College and the City of Brownsville and the Brownsville Independent School District – the political lines have been blurred.

Treviño is currently in a runoff race with outgoing Brownsville Navigation District chair Steve Guerra for county judge as a Democrat, and both he and Gonzalez, who easily won the Democratic primary nomination, face Republican challengers this coming November in the general election.

Behind the scenes lurks Guerra –  the proverbial 800-pound gorilla – who is supporting Garcia and has apparently talked Gonzalez into publicly endorsing him against Treviño's candidate Gonnella. 

U.S. House District 34 covers Cameron, Willacy, Kenedy, and Kleberg counties, including parts of eastern Hidalgo County. 

Gonzalez is currently serving his first term as a representative of the US House District 34. He previously represented US House District 15 from 2017 to 2022, and is currently serving his fifth term in the U.S. Congress.

His Republican challenger is Eric Flores, who won the Republican nomination in the U.S. House District 34 race by a margin of 10,000 votes. Flores will face off Gonzalez this November in a district that favored Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Flores led the primary polls against five other Republican candidates, earning 16,781 votes.

And Gonzalez would do well to remember that Treviño was the top vote getter over Guerra in his race for re-election for Cameron County Judge– which is critical to his own race against his Nueces County opponent Flores. Treviño received 14,505 votes, or over 43 percent to Guerra's 30 percent of the votes, or 9,961.

South Texas Democrats have long memories. Come November, will Treviño supporters remember that Gonzalez – by unnecessarily endorsing Garcia against Treviño's choice for the BND down the ballot – was in effect working against their candidate for county judge and, just as they did for Trump in 2024, cast their votes for Trump's Republican candidate Flores?

SCOTUS HANDS ABBOTT AND TRUMP GERRYMANDERED DISTRICTS

Team Gina

That means Greg Abbott and Donald Trump’s mid-decade redistricting power grab, designed to rig in up to five new Republican seats, is now the official playfield.

This is exactly how Republicans try to hold onto power when they know voters are turning on them. They redraw the lines, causing chaos in the midst of important elections.

But we can still fight back, and we will fight back — because no matter how hard he tries, Greg Abbott cannot gerrymander the governor’s election. But the question is whether we have the resources to seize this moment and win.

We have an end-of-month goal of raising $100,000 by today so we can stay on offense against Abbott, organize statewide, and continue fighting for working Texans.

Will you chip in $5 to help us have the resources to take on Abbott this November?

Donate $5 »

AFTER THREE DECADES OF WAITING, WILL THE EAST LOOP FINALLY BECOME A REALITY?

By Juan Montoya

As envisioned way back in 1993 by then-Cameron County Republican Judge Tony Garza and four Democratic commissioners, the passage of Project Road Map as a bond issue would address the future transportation needs of the county.

That was 33 years ago.

And for the umpteenth time, the commissioners court and county administrator Pete Sepulveda have promised that construction of one of the projects –the East Loop – was to be built with the passage of a bond issue to improve and construct new transportation arteries and projects across the county.

The Brownsville Herald dutifully reported that the court unanimously approved the resolution in support of the East Loop project that will – someday – connect Veterans Bridge to the Port of Brownsville and alleviate congestion by hazardous-material laden trucks on International Blvd. down the middle of downtown Brownsville. 

The project is being managed by the Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority (CCRMA) and is one of the top five priority projects for Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (RGVMPO).

The latest motion to approve the resolution was offered by Pct. 1 Commissioner Sofia Benavides and seconded by Pct. 2 Commissioner Joey Lopez.

"It's been a long time coming, but previous Pct. 1 commissioners and county administrations have always supported this very necessary project," Benavides said. "I'm glad I'll be here to cap off our collective efforts."

What happened along the way from the county residents' passage of the bond issue in 1993 and the current affirmation of its construction 31 years later?

The needs remain the same, according to local residents and businesses along SH 48 and International Blvd. Those arteries are still congested with 18-wheelers laden with overweight cargoes, trucks carrying hazardous materials and petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, and other toxic and flammable chemicals.

These highway monsters crawl along the route past churches, schools, public housing projects and single family dwellings. Periodically, trucks have spilled chemicals along the road and residents struggle to wend their way battling the 18-wheelers along the route. The scene below is witnessed daily along the route that includes the heavy trucks passing by Porter Early College High School.

Back in 1993, Garza – later Texas Railroad Commission chairman and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico under the George W. Bush presidency – said that by using the Texas Department of Transportation's Pass Through Financing Program program, the commissioners were able to secure two-thirds of the costs associated with the project list that would see only one-third of the cost paid by the county. The rest would be paid by the state as the projects came online.

After campaigning on behalf of the projects, the court saw the Project Road Map successfully approved by a two thirds majority vote on August 14, 1993.

Project Road Map projects, many since completed, addressed transportation and drainage needs in the county, including some far-reaching projects such as the widening of Southmost Road in Precinct 1 and many other projects in the northern precincts. But the monies for the East Loop were lost in the county's Black Hole of finances and filtered out to the construction of the Los Indios (Free Trade) Bridge, even though the project wasn't listed among the projects in the the bond issue.

Two years ago, Sepulveda – also executive director of CCRMA – said the project is approximately 11 miles long and will connect with the existing South Port Connector (read SpaceX Space Corridor)  road on State Highway 4. He said the Loop will begin at the intersection of I-69E and University Drive and will end on SH 4 (Boca Chica). He said the cost will be approximately $215 million and that the let date is set for 2027.

To Southmost resident Adolfo Aguilar, who lives along the Port of Brownsville-Los Tomates Bridge
near Canales Elementary, the project's completion more than 35 years after it was passed on the bond issue can't come true soon enough.

"You shudder to think what would happen if we had a hazardous chemical spill near one of the schools like Canales or Porter High School," he said. "They are closed campuses and would have no place to run. This project should have been among the first to be constructed. But the boys from Harlingen and the rest of the county nos ganaron pisada (beat us to the draw)."

Sepulveda recounted to commissioners the reason behind the project's construction.

“Addressing our area’s mobility, our international trade corridors which are of regional, statewide and national significance, is of the utmost importance,” Sepulveda told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service. 

“The East Loop project is vital for national and international commercial traffic and to our area’s economic development. It will address congestion, promote public safety, alleviate commute time and improve our residents' livelihood for many years to come.”

Sepulveda said the East Loop projects is currently going through what is called a “functional classification” process at the Federal Highway Administration. He said that classification will allow the use of federal funds for the project.

“The resolution passed by Cameron County Commissioners Court basically lets the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration know that the project is a high priority for Cameron County since it is an international trade corridor leading to the Port of Brownsville.”

Sepulveda said that responded that the resolution will help CCRMA access federal funds for the East Loop project. He said the City of Brownsville has also approved a similar resolution.

“The first segment, which is the South Port Connector road from Ostos Road, inside the Port, to State Highway 4 was built and opened a couple of years ago. So the segment from the Veterans Bridge to State Highway 4 is a segment we’re working with TxDOT on. Part of the funding that will be utilized for the construction is federal funding,” Sepulveda explained.

"We received correspondence last week from the RGVMPO that they’re coordinating that process with the Federal Highway Administration. They had concerns on some of the streets surrounding the East Loop project. I believe most of those are inside the city limits of the City of Brownsville."

The Brownsville Herald reported that the CCRMA website has a page dedicated to the East Loop project. It states:

“The City of Brownsville, TxDOT, Cameron County, and the Port of Brownsville have all entered into partnership to further the development of the East Loop project. The East Loop corridor serves the Port of Brownsville, which exports and imports over 6.3 million metric tons of steel petroleum, machinery ores and other international trade exports to our Mexico partners. The East Loop project will also serve as the overweight corridor that runs currently within the City of Brownsville.

“Creating the East Loop Corridor for trucks traveling from Mexico and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates to the Port of Brownsville will reduce congestion on I-69E and SH 48, as well as reduce the time of travel on all roadways in the Corridor.

“The East Loop Project consists of the construction of a four to six-lane roadway from SH 4 to I-69E (U.S. 77/83) and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates," Sepulveda said.

One of the biggest selling points back then was the removal of the truck and hazardous materials traffic through East Brownsville from Highway 48 and International Blvd. Along the route, the trucks carrying the hazardous cargoes, congesting traffic and polluting the route with exhaust and noise, traversed next to schools, housing projects, churches, the college, neighborhoods and small businesses.

The wear and tear on the roads was constant, and the noise and congestion was, and to a large degree, still is, a nuisance to many people living along the route.

At least one of the former commissioners says the move is long overdue and welcomes the funding.

"We had set aside funding for that from the Project Road Map bond issue more than 30 years ago," said Lucino Rosenbaum Jr., who was Pct. 1 commissioner when the Project Road Map was passed. "Subsequent administrations have kind of put it on the back burner, but now I'm happy to see that the county is getting the project going. The late Carlos Cascos was one of my fellow commissioners when we went to the people to get the funding through the bond."

"The project will allow us to move commercial vehicles that are overweight and carrying hazardous cargo from residential, commercial and school zones in one of the most heavily traversed streets in Brownsville," then-County Judge Carlos H. Cascos told the Brownsville Herald.

"I'm glad to see that this project is coming to fruition even after that long delay," Rosenbaum said. "I know Carlos would be proud that the project on which we worked on together so long ago is actually becoming a reality."

"After all this time, I'm glad to see that they are working it out," he said. "All the ground work has been done for the project and I don't think that it is going to come to a stop for any reason."

Once built – if it eventually is built – the East Loop Project will: 

* Facilitate the movement of Export/Import on the Corridor with Mexico has is growing every year

* Make the movement of imports and exports from the port of Brownsville easier. 

* And perhaps of more importance to local residents, it will eliminate 17 stops and 6 school zones which planners say will significantly improve air quality in the East Loop Corridor.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said a used-tire shop owner whose business sits across Canales Elementary on International Blvd. "Every day we see those heavy trucks pass through here carrying all that dangerous stuff. Dios favoresca que no pase una tragedia." 

"THE WICKED FLEE WHEN NO MAN PURSUETH" (PROVERBS 28:1)

O'DONNELL: In [the suspected shooter's] manifesto, he wrote that 'I'm no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.' What's your reaction?

TRUMP: I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you're horrible people. I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody. I'm not a pedophile.

 
O'DONNELL: Oh, do you think he was referring to you?

TRUMP: Excuse me. You read that crap from a sick person. I was totally exonerated. You should be ashamed of yourself, reading that. You're a disgrace.

So let me get this straight…

He’s never gone to this dinner before… Goes this year… There’s a “shooter” in the same building as the President, VP, and Speaker… VP gets evacuated first… And somehow the takeaway is… “we need a $150M ballroom”?

And now the internet is doing what it always does— connecting dots that may or may not even be on the same page.

I don’t know what’s crazier: the situation… or the explanations.

BIBLE-THUMPING TRUMP PROVES A DEVIL IN SAINT'S CLOTHING...

Scott Byiers
Shakespeare does it again. Could this be more apt?

Dennis DeRado Sr.
A well placed bolt of lightning that day would have gone a long way in restoring my faith.

Herbert Grigsby Jr. 
He is holding the Bible upside down?!!

Nelson Bell
Big at the little and bottom at the top !!! O'NELLY

Merlin Ivory
The Bard nails it once again!

Peter Michael Stuart White
Madness in great ones should not go unwatched - Shakespeare (Hamlet).

Peter Von Berg
As usual, Shakespeare said it best.

Ma Penowski
Its nearly like it was written specifically for him.

THE PRICE PALESTINIANS ARE PAYING FOR A GREATER ISRAEL EMPIRE

PRAY FOR THE KIDS AT CHURCH TODAY: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE ISRAELI GENOCIDE; MASKING INFANTICIDE

UNICEF

As of early 2026, reports indicate that over 17,000 to 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed by the "chosen people" in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, with reports suggesting more than 50,000 total children have been killed or injured. 

The UN has described the situation as a "graveyard for children," with many more trapped under rubble, thousands suffering from life-altering injuries, and thousands separated from their families.

Key Data on Child Fatalities (Oct 2023 – April 2026)Total Killed (Gaza): Estimates from organizations like Save the Children and UNICEF indicate over 17,000–20,000+ children have been killed.

Daily Toll: Reports indicate an average of at least one child killed every hour, or roughly 28 children per day
.
Infants and Toddlers: Over 2,100 infants and toddlers under two years old are among the dead in Gaza.

Injuries and Missing: UNICEF estimates over 50,000 children have been killed or injured, with thousands missing under rubble.

West Bank: In addition to Gaza, over 120+ children have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 2023.

HOW WOULD THEY FEEL TO SEE THEIR OFFSPRING PRAISE THEIR KILLER?

Congress,gov

President Trump defended white nationalists saying they included “some very fine people,” while expressing sympathy for their demonstration against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. 

It was a strikingly different message from the prepared statement he had delivered before, and a reversion to his initial response over the weekend protests.

Speaking in the lobby of Trump Tower at what had been billed as a statement on infrastructure, a combative Trump defended his slowness to condemn white nationalists and neo-Nazis after a melee in central Virginia, which ended in the death of one woman and injuries to dozens of others, and compared the tearing down of Confederate monuments to the hypothetical removal of monuments to the Founding Fathers. 

He also said that counterprotesters deserve an equal amount of blame for the violence. “What about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, at the alt-right?” Trump said. “Do they have any semblance of guilt?” 

“I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me,” he said. “You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists,” Trump said. “The press has treated them absolutely unfairly.” “You also had some very fine people on both sides,” he said. 

The Unite the Right rally that sparked the violence in Charlottesville featured several leading names in the white-nationalist alt-right movement, and also attracted people displaying Nazi symbols. As they walked down the street, the white-nationalist protesters chanted “blood and soil,” the English translation of a Nazi slogan.

PATEL LAUNCHES OFFICIAL FBI INVESTIGATION INTO ALCOHOLIC CONTENT OF BREWSKIES: HELLO, MY NAME IS KASH, AND I''M AN ALCOHOLIC...

BUSTED: New reporting reveals FBI Director Kash Patel previously disclosed arrests for public intoxication (2001) and public urination (2005) in a letter tied to his Florida Bar application.

The 2005 letter, obtained by reporter Trevor Aaronson of The Intercept through a records request, details both incidents and Patel’s acknowledgment that fines were paid. At the time, Patel was working in the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office.

These revelations come as Patel faces growing scrutiny over alleged alcohol abuse while in office, which he has denied.

CALVIN AND HOBBES, PRIVATE EYE: THE CASE OF THE PUSHY DAME; RAYMOND CHANDLER REDUX

WILL 3RD TIME BE THE CHARM FOR EL RRUN-RRUN'S GBEDC INFORMATION REQUEST?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

For the second time, a Public Information Request by El Rrun-Rrun has again yielded little – if any – of the responsive materials requested.

A recent public information request has raised questions about the creation and hiring of A Director of Government Affairs position by the Greater Brownsville Economic Development Corporation (GBEDC).

In response to the request, the organization stated that no information was withheld or redacted. The first request generated a one-page response that did not address any of our questions.

This second time, the materials provided did not include several types of records typically associated with hiring and position creation, including:

*Board action or approval

*Job postings or recruitment materials:

*Applications or information on other candidates
*Interview notes or evaluation records
*Documentation explaining the creation of the position
*Any analysis distinguishing the role from existing publicly funded government affairs functions

While economic development corporations are not always required to publicly post positions, the absence of these records raises questions about transparency and documentation.

The situation also raises broader questions about whether publicly funded entities are maintaining clear records to demonstrate:

*A defined need for new position
*A transparent hiring process
*Clear separation from existing publicly funded functions

A follow-up public information request-will be submitted to determine whether these records exist.
This issue highlights the importance of transparency and accountability when public funds are used.

ELECTIONS OFFICE ADDRESS EARLY VOTING BALLOT GLITCH

EARLY VOTING TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE

EARLY VOTING BROWNSVILLE NAVIGATION DISTRICT

EARLY VOTING LAGUNA VISTA

By Remi Garza

Cameron County Elections Director

To All Contracting Entities:

Please be advised that a few of the Early Voting Sites have experienced a situation where once the ballots are scanned by the precinct scanner they are not falling into the Transfer Case (Ballot Box) properly.

It appears that they are getting caught on a guide inside the box that should allow them to fall freely into the Transfer Case. Consequently, they are interfering with additional ballots from being scanned and we have had to use the Emergency Ballot Box until the pathway can be cleared. 

As a preventative measure we are going to exchange the receiving part of the ballot scanner, which houses the Transfer Case, from the DS 300 for the DS 200 receptacle. We will not be replacing the Scanners themselves as they are working properly. This should allow for the ballots to fall freely into the Transfer Case as the internal guide has a different design.

We are still investigating the cause of this situation and are working with our vendor. We believe several factors could be influencing the situation, such as the weight of the ballot stock, the relative humidity of the polling sites and/or the heat from the printers in more heavily utilized Early Voting Sites. 

Regardless of the contributing factors, we believe that we will no longer have the situation we are currently experiencing and the guide will no longer interfere with the continued scanning of the ballots at the Early Voting Sites.

Thank you for understanding and I want to assure you that all ballots cast have been properly processed and are secure in the Transfer Cases at each site. 

Further, that the exchanges are happening while the early voting sites are open and active and under the supervision of the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office. As of this time the only locations that have been switched out are the Brownsville Public Library, the San Benito Community Building, Southmost Public Library, and the Main Office at the Cameron County Judicial Complex. 

Tomorrow we will be exchanging at South Padre Island Community Center, Port Isabel City Hall, Laguna Vista City Hall, Los Fresnos Community Center, and Rancho Veijo City Hall. 

As time permits, if it becomes necessary, we will coordinate with the Sheriff’s Office with respect to the other Early Voting Sites.

MAKE SURE YOU PUT SLEEPY JOE ON YOUR VISITORS' LIST...

THEY HAD A FALLING OUT, LIKE CAMALIONES OFTEN DO...

Chuy Aguilera posted this a few months ago. Wonder why the fallout since Aguilera's  wife was Judge Chuy’s campaign treasurer when he ran for Justice of the Peace? He is now in a runoff for 107th District Court against Noe Garza.

SO TRUMPSTERS: DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR IDOL, OR YOUR OWN EYES?

An AP photo of the Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009 and a screen grab from the White House YouTube livestream of Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration appear to show a large difference in the number of inaugural attendees.

By Associated Press 

President Donald Trump’s speech Saturday at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency turned into the latest battle in, as he put it, his “running war with the media.” He had two central complaints: that the media misrepresented the size of the crowd at his inauguration and that it was incorrectly reported a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. was removed from the Oval Office. A look at those assertions:

TRUMP: 

“I made a speech. I looked out. The field was — it looked like a million, a million and a half people.’’

The president went on to say that one network “said we drew 250,000 people. Now that’s not bad. But it’s a lie.’’ He then claimed that were 250,000 right by the stage and the “rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed.’’

“So we caught them,’’ Trump said. “And we caught them in a beauty. And I think they’re going to pay a big price.’’

THE FACTS:

Trump is wrong. Photos of the National Mall from his inauguration make clear that the crowd did not extend to the Washington Monument. Large swaths of empty space are visible on the Mall.

Thin crowds and partially empty bleachers also dotted the inaugural parade route. Hotels across the District of Columbia reported vacancies, a rarity for an event as large as a presidential inauguration.