PRAY FOR THE KIDS AT CHURCH TODAY: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE ISRAELI GENOCIDE; KILL THEIR CHILDREN

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 OFFICIALLY INVESTIGATES ALCOHOL CONTENT OF BREWSKIES

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.

PUT ON YOUR HIGH-HEEL SPIT SHINES, CAUSE WE'RE GOING OUT MAY 8

BROWNSVILLE'S GREAT FOUNDERS: A RUNAWAY SLAVE CATCHER AND A SLAVE OWNER WHO STOLE THE LAND

MAYOR JOHN COWEN'S ANCESTOR WILLIAM NEAL, A FOR-HIRE SLAVE CATCHER 

CHARLES STILLMAN THE "FOUNDER" OF BROWNSVILLE WHO STOLE THE LAND FROM RIGHTFUL OWNERS, AND A SLAVE HOLDER

1850 Cameron County census showing Stillman's slave 

By Juan Montoya

If ever there was a curse cast upon future generations it was by the people who named this city Brownsville and the county Cameron.

Why do we say that?

Local historians love to regale us with tales of the 500 brave defenders of Fort Texas, an earthen structure with walls 15 feet wide shaped into a six-sided star built near the present-day golf course next to Texas Southmost College. The finished walls, they say, stood nine to 10 feet tall.

Zachary Taylor had ordered the fort built right across the river from Matamoros in May 1846.
Taylor left Major Jacob Brown in charge of the fort on his way to fortify Point Isabel.

He heard the cannonade as Mexican forces began a siege on May 3 bombarding the fort with their artillery.

The Mexican cannon ball fire was ineffective after the fort's defenders knocked out the guns shooting from Matamoros. Although the confrontation at Fort Texas lasted six days, only two U.S. soldiers died in the bombardment, but that toll included the fort commander Brown.

The late Bruce Aiken used to say that the Mexican Army stopped their cannon fire when they saw that their cannon balls bounced harmlessly off the earthen walls of the fort. Firing continued from the Mexican side sporadically, and erratically.

Aiken said that during one of the lulls three days into the siege, Brown walked out of the fort and was standing by a wall when one of the cannon balls rolled by him, bounced off a wall, and and struck him in the leg, shattering it. (The sketch above that appeared in Harper's Magazine showing an exploding shell killing Brown is fanciful, since the Mexican cannon balls did not explode)

Over the next three days, gangrene set in and he died on May 9.

Why on earth did Brown venture outside the fort on that fateful day and get himself killed? Boredom? Ignorance? Bravado?

Whatever it was, it got his fool ass killed and both the fort and then the city were named after him.

The same goes for Ewen Cameron, which the plaque above has him dying "with his face to the foe."

Actually, hard-luck Ewen was one of a gang of plunderers (filibusters) who raided northern Mexico on  July 1842. This was four years before Zachary Taylor was ordered to the mouth of the Rio Grande by President James Polk.

After a battle December 26, 1842 that left 650 Mexican townspeople dead and 200 wounded, they were captured in Mier, Tamaulipas by the Mexican army and sent to Mexico City.

Not wanting to merely execute all the raiders, they were given the chance to escape death by the luck of the draw, blindfolding them and have them draw beans. If they drew a white bean, they would be spared, but if they drew a black bean, they would be executed. 

At Perote Prison, a jar containing 159 white beans and 17 black beans was presented to the Texan prisoners. Each man drew a bean from the jar. The 17 Texan prisoners who drew black beans were executed by Mexican firing squad.
Actually, for the Mexicans to give the prisoners such good odds of surviving speaks well of their civility.

Cameron drew a white bean in the lottery, and he was allowed to live and serve time in a Mexican prison. But no, Cameron thought he could escape his captors and was caught in the act at least twice, prompting the Mexican commander to order his execution "with his face to the foe," as Texas lore suggests when he refused a blindfold and bared his breast shouting at them to fire, "fuego."

Cameron could have left well enough alone and survived. But noooo! He had to tempt fate and his luck ran out.

Cameron County is now named in his honor and we, as its residents, are left to wonder why.

We live in a cursed region, it appears. With a city named after someone who did not have enough sense to stay inside a perfectly good fort and a county named after another who had been given a chance to live and still attempted to escape and got himself killed, what hope does this area have?

The future, indeed, cheats you from afar.

WE SAVED TSC, AND OUR NEXT CENTURY OF PROGRESS IS YET TO COME

By Adela Garza

We are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Texas Southmost College this year.

Since back in 1926, this community, – once said to be the poorest in the United States – nurtured our community college district like a child. It gave local veterans and residents the opportunity to learn a skill, start a profession, or use it as a first rung to transfer to universities across the nation.

And its open enrollment gave non-traditional students like me a second chance to validate our self worth.

But just a scant 13 years ago, TSC almost ceased to exist. The  plans were drawn, the proposals made, and – without local residents becoming aware – a bill was being considered in Austin to  transfer all its real estate,  buildings, bank deposits, and other financial assets  to  the  oil-and-gas  wealthy University of Texas System.

That  almost happened when I was first elected to serve on the  college  board in 2008.  A forceful college president working with a pliant board had already forwarded plans to  do away with  TSC, and its district would disappear only after local taxpayers finished paying its bond debt. 

After that, the little college that had given so many of our young people, veterans, and  residents the first rung to realize their dreams and uplift their families would be gone.

Our local students were already paying university-level tuition and fees, and only a dismal 16 percent graduated after six years. The rest fell through the cracks, their federal grants depleted with UTB-required "remedial" courses that didn't count toward graduation and they couldn't afford the high tuition and could not  continue their schooling.

We said enough!

In the face of fierce opposition from an elitist stratum of our community, four of us –Rene Torres, Trey Mendez Kiko Rendon and me, a bare majority on the board – said we wouldn't stand by and give our educational birthright away and deprive future generations of the educational opportunities that only a community college can give us.

The combined forces of the UT System and local shakers and movers threatened us with personal and professional destruction, to ruin our businesses, and boycott our professional livelihoods. The college chaplain even picketed the professional offices of one of our majority and threatened him with eternal damnation. 

If they had had their way, we wouldn't be celebrating the century mark of our college's anniversary today. Our college would have been a thing of the past and the fat cats in Austin would own our little school which had ben nurtured by the blood, sweat, and tears of our humble community. 

They said we wouldn't be able to gain accreditation as an independent school, that our enrollment would disappear, and that our students would fail. We were wined and dined, begged, cajoled, and coerced to give up on TSC. We held on and stood our ground up to those forces seeking to destroy it.

I cannot tell you how often –  in the darkest of those times – we felt like giving up in the face of this overwhelming adversity. But we thought then that it was worth it to save our TSC. It was worth it then, and it's worth it now.

The separation came and went and the opposition stood by, ready to watch us fail. But a Higher Power smiled upon us and our little college and drove us to work a little harder harder, and to persevere against the odds. Today, 13 years after we reestablished our independence as a stand-alone institution of higher education we have achieved this:

* We've reduced tuition and fees three (3) times to make TSC the most affordable college in the RGV

* We earned independent national accreditation despite the nay-sayers

* We've grown enrollment by over 130 percent

* We've built a state-of-the art workforce training program

* Today, TSC's graduation rate outpaces the state average  

The best years – our next Century of Progress – is still ahead. With your continued support, we can keep building what we started. 

EARLY VOTING:

April 20-28

ELECTION DAY 

May 2

TRUMP'S DOJ RETALIATES AGAINST ANTI-KKK POVERTY LAW CENTER

Feminist News

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — the same man who spent years as Donald Trump's personal criminal defense attorney before being handed the keys to the nation's top law enforcement agency — just indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for fraud. 

The alleged crime? 

Paying informants to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan and other violent white supremacist organizations. The SPLC says that intelligence was regularly shared with local and federal law enforcement.

But in Trump's America, tracking the KKK is the crime.

This is the same playbook we watched a YouTuber named Nick Shirley run in Minnesota — viral videos, explosive "fraud" accusations, often without definitive evidence, aimed squarely at Somali-owned businesses and day care centers. 

Those accusations triggered state crackdowns, ICE operations, and a climate of terror for an entire community. Day cares targeted in those videos ended up suing the state of Minnesota just to defend their right to exist. We have seen with our own eyes what happens when this kind of politically manufactured "fraud" narrative gets unleashed — people lose their livelihoods, families are torn apart, and in the worst cases, people die. 

ICE raids in Minnesota have not been "enforcement." They have been the weaponization of government power against a community that was targeted by a propaganda campaign.
Now the federal government wants to call it fraud to pay someone to tell you where the Klan is meeting and what they are planning.

Let that sink in.

Because here is what the FBI's own history looks like when it comes to paid informants: 

*The FBI employed a paid Klan informant named Gary Thomas Rowe — and on the government's dime, Rowe was told in advance about the attack on the Freedom Riders and the FBI chose not to intervene. 

*That same paid informant was believed to be involved in the bombing of Martin Luther King Jr.'s motel room. 

*The FBI also believed one of its informants purchased the dynamite used in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that murdered four little girls. 

*And when civil rights volunteer Viola Liuzzo was chased down and shot dead on a highway after the Selma to Montgomery march, Gary Thomas Rowe — the FBI's paid informant — was in the car. He was not just present. He was a participant. And what did the federal government do with him afterward? 

They put him in witness protection and gave him a job as a deputy U.S. Marshal.

So to be absolutely clear about the rules as this government has enforced them throughout history: 

Paying an informant to infiltrate the KKK and track violence against Black Americans is fraud. Paying an informant who helped carry out that violence, covered it up, and got rewarded for it — that is federal law enforcement doing its job.

The SPLC was monitoring extremists to protect people. The FBI was paying extremists to participate in terrorism against Black civil rights leaders and then shielding them from accountability.

Todd Blanche and Donald Trump are not prosecuting fraud. They are prosecuting the people who had the audacity to take the threat of white supremacist violence seriously, using a legal system that has never once held itself to the same standard. 

This is not justice. This is retaliation dressed in a suit, wielded by a former defense attorney who made partner by keeping the most powerful man in America out of prison.

COMMISSIONERS PUT OFF CITY MANAGER CHOICE UNTIL NEXT TUESDAY

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

With city mayor John Cowen and two other city commissioners out of town, a bare quorum of the commission voted Tuesday to postpone the selection and appointment of a new city manager until next Tuesday, April 28.

The five candidates narrowed down from an original pool are 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 will permanently replace the former city manager Helen Ramirez, who left at the end of 2025.

STALIN: THE POPE, HOW MANY DIVISIONS DOES HE HAVE?

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The phrase "How many divisions does the pope have?" is a famous rhetorical question asked by Joseph Stalin to Winston Churchill in 1944 to dismiss the Vatican's military power. The literal answer is none; the Vatican City State maintains no military divisions, as the Pope is the head of a religious organization.

The phrase emphasizes the contrast between material power and moral authority.
Context: Stalin asked this during the Potsdam Conference when Churchill noted the Pope would be displeased by a decision regarding Poland.

Significance: While Stalin implied the Pope had no power without an army, the quote is often cited to show the enduring moral influence of the Papacy
.
Military Presence: The Pope has only the small, ceremonial Swiss Guard responsible for the security of the Vatican. 

Though the Vatican has no military divisions, many note that the Vatican has outlasted the Soviet Union, which did.

JUST AFTER THE $2,OOO DOGE CHECK, THE TARIFF REFUND, AND MEXICO'S WALL; AND YOU STILL BELIEVE TRUMP?

American consumers and businesses bore 86–96 percent of Trump's tariff costs — not the foreign countries Trump claimed would pay. Estimates suggest that’s about $1,000 out of the average American household’s pocket. 

NOE GARZA: A 107TH DISTRICT COURT JUDGE WHO'll BE THERE FOR US WHEN IT MATTERS

By El Licenciado de Veras
Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Your Family Deserves a Judge Who’s Been There!

Walk into any courtroom in Cameron County and you'll hear it. The 107th District Court race. The skinny. El rrun rrun.

But when you strip away the noise, the question is simple: Who do you trust when it actually matters?

This isn’t traffic court. This is where a mother fights to keep her child, where a man stands accused, hoping someone will listen. Where everything you’ve built can be taken away in a single decision.

And when you’re standing there, none of the politics matters. Only the person on the bench.

Noe Garza didn't grow up with connections. He is the son of immigrants. He attended public schools. There were no shortcuts. While still in school, Noe was already grinding, putting himself through college, learning what it meant to earn every opportunity, not just for himself, but for the people who depended on him.

That matters.

Because when you’ve lived that life, you don’t forget what it feels like to walk into a courtroom and have everything on the line.

For almost 40 years, Noe has stood next to families just like yours. Not in theory. Not in a classroom.
In real courtrooms. With real consequences. More than 300 trials. Real cases. Real consequences.  Moments where the truth had to be sorted from noise. Where someone had to make sense of chaos.
Where someone had to stand up when it mattered most.

You’ll hear people say a judge should be “nice.” And of course, respect matters. But nice is easy.
What's hard is making the right call when the pressure is on. Knowing what matters and what doesn't. Getting it right when someone's life is on the line.

That’s the difference. And that difference comes from experience. When it's your child, and a judge is deciding custody... When it's your freedom, and everything is on the line...

When it's your business, and everything you've worked for is at risk...When it's your future sitting in that courtroom.

What you want is simple. You want someone who’s fair. Someone who listens. Someone who will treat you right. That’s what matters.

Not talk. Not appearances. You need someone who has seen it before. Someone who knows what truly matters. Someone who understands the difference between real evidence and empty claims. That kind of judgment isn’t learned from a book. It’s earned.

Imagine it’s your family. Your son accused of something he didn’t do. Your mother’s estate being fought over. Your business hanging by a thread. Who do you want making that decision?

Someone who hopes they get it right? Or Someone who has stood in a courtroom more than 300 times and made it count? Noe Garza brings more than experience. He brings understanding. He knows what it means to work. And he knows what it means to stand beside people when everything is on the line.

That’s who he is. Judges are elected to do the hard things when they’re hard, not when they’re easy.
Vote Noe Garza.

Because when your family’s future is at stake, experience isn’t optional. 
Early voting starts Monday, May 18, 2026 and Election day is Tuesday May 26, 2026

Your voice matters. Use it.

IS IT ANTI-SEMITIC TO SHOW ISRAEL'S DISDAIN FOR CHRISTIANITY?

Meidas Touch

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed the authenticity of a photo circulating online showing an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in southern Lebanon.

The image, which has spread rapidly across social media, appears to show the soldier using a sledgehammer to destroy a crucifix in the Christian town of Debel during recent military operations.

In a statement, the IDF said it has identified the incident and that “appropriate measures will be taken against those involved” under the Northern Command.

The incident is already drawing outrage, particularly given Debel’s Christian population, and raises serious concerns about conduct during operations in civilian areas.

DUELING ENDORSEMENTS FOR PLACE 2 AT THE PORT OF B'VILLE

Special to El Rrun-Rrun
With early voting starting today and ending April 28, the race for commissioner Place 2 on the board of the Brownsville Navigation District has split the incumbents.

Current Place 2 holder John Wood has endorsed Shariff Gonnella while longtime port commissioner John Reed is backing former Cameron County Asst. Administrator David Garcia.

Reed, whose family has been at the port for generations, is usually considered the "old guard" and the Reeds have done business there for years. Wood, on the other hand, has had a long career as a City of Brownsville and Cameron County commissioner before getting elected to the board of the Brownsville Navigation District. Whose endorsement will carry the day? A lot, of course, depends on the candidates themselves and how much energy they devote to bringing out the votes.

Some have questioned Gonnella's employment with Omnitrax, that took over the port's railroad before his tenure, as a potential conflict of interest since what the company initially promised the port in return for the purchase has been amended several times and the original pledges have not materialized. But this happened before Gonnella appeared on the scene.

Garcia, however, also carries some baggage from his employment with Cameron County as the assistant administrator where he was instrumental in testimony that resulted in the ouster of former Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez over the employment of his  brother-in-law, and later in the indictment of administrator Pete Sepulveda over the paving of a non-dedicated road in El Ranchito.

Garcia has garnered several endorsements from the political movers and shakers with the city, and he is counting on his many years of association with elected officials in Washington D.C. when he worked in the office of congressman Solomon Ortiz, blamed for the derailing of the Port's Bridge to Nowhere along with former Texas Senator Eddie Lucio.

And Gonnella has had to respond to anonymous critics online (the equivalent of yesteryear's hojas sueltas) accusing him of being a muslim with cartel ties and a foreign accent. Gonnella was born in Venezuela and has worked in the maritime industry around the world. Many local leaders have denounced the anti-muslim slurs and point out that he is a practicing Catholic and that the port has benefitted from the input of foreign-born contributors to its growth. They discard the cartel ties as non-existent and blatant lies.

The political ad below commenting on Gonnella's accent (and global vision) on behalf of Gonnella has just appeared on social media.

Will voters heed Reed or Wood's endorsement for Place 2 at the port? Let them know by voting during early voting or on election day May 2.

IS DORO GARCIA GIVING UP ON CITY MANAGER'S GIG? CITY COMMISSION TO DECIDE MANAGER PICK THIS TUESDAY

(Ed.'s Note: Apparently, assistant city manager Doroteo Garcia is resigned to his belief that since he is a local resident, his candidacy for city manager is doomed from the get-go. This post – surprising for a candidate to go public – makes clear that he doesn't think that the city commission will select a local candidate for city manager.

The other candidates are Brownsville Police Chief/Asst. City Manager Felix Sauceda, Assistant City Manager and Police Chief, Brownsville, 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.

To local wags, when Garcia refers to his father-in-law, he is talking about former city commissioner and Pct. 2 Cameron County commissioner Ernie Hernandez, who left his elected office rather unceremoniously after he negotiated a deal with Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz, to avoid prosecution for his role in "fixing" the hiring of his brother-in-law as a non-commissioned security guard at one of the county's international bridges. Testimony at the trial of his assistant Raul Salazar, indicated that Hernandez had manipulated the system to provide the answers to the questions on the Civil Service exam to qualify for the position.

To "Ernie," local preference meant steering business to his sign-making business and his barbecue catering enterprise. If Garcia is chosen for city manager, how much "pull" will Ernie have?

Doroteo Garcia's wife is local attorney Erin Hernandez Garcia, who this time ran for judge of the 107th District Court and did not make the runoff.)

THIN SKINNED: FB COMMENTS ON JJ DE LEON'S ALLEGED DRUG USE CAUSED TERMINATION

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

A former Brownsville Independent School District employee claims she was fired after more than 22 years of employment with the district as a result of constitutionally-protected comments she made on a on a social media posting (FB) related to the alleged possession of marijuana by BISD Support Programs Director Juan J. DeLeon on April 19, 2024.

The lawsuit, styled Adelida Ruth Vento vs. BISD and Superintendent Dr. Jesus Chavez was filed on March 23, 2026  in United States District Court, Southern District of Texas in Brownsville. 

At the crux of the issue, Vento claims her complaint is the result of  "retaliation in violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, specifically, while acting under color of law, Defendants took adverse employment action against Plaintiff's employment motivated by political retaliation based on perceived political association that resulted in Plaintiff’s termination. "

Also, she claims the defendants violated her right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

At the time, DeLeon was running for re-election to the position of trustee on the board of the Texas Southmost College against Eduardo Camarillo during the 2024 election. Her immediate supervisor, Luis Troncoso, provided Vento with a verbal written warning, even though she said she had posted the comment on her own time, and on her personal social media. 

The post did not claim that she was acting on behalf of the school district, or that her views represented the school district’s views. In her lawsuit, Vento claims such posting did not involve her or the candidate’s employment with the district Defendant and that the election was a matter of public concern and the posting did not involve improper language.

Nonetheless, Troncoso ordered her to refrain from “Inappropriate posting or use of social media that targets a school district employee or the school district.” She responded to the written verbal warning issued by Troncoso by saying that: “I did nothing inappropriate. I only defended an opponent (Camarillo) of my choice during election. I can’t help what others reply or post.”

Troncoso was himself directly supervised by DeLeon. Vento was provided by Troncoso on a form provided by the Defendant’s Human Resources Department that she was responsible for unauthorized distribution of written or printed material of any kind.

The Facebook Page, authored by someone named Jas Marie Reyes, referred to the choices of the TSC board candidates; Vento replied as "Ve AR."

She was issued an additional written verbal warning by Troncoso the same day, April 24, 2024, that stated: "The employee posted certain content on their personal public electronic platform (Facebook) that does not align with the professional standards expected of district employees. The employee was reminded that, as per our policy, you are solely  responsible for the content present on your page, regardless of its origin, whether added by you, your acquaintances, or members of the public."

Plaintiff replied, “I have 1st Amendment Rights and am being violated by my rights by person in question. I have a right to defend any opponent I support during election.”

Records indicate that way back in 2011, there was a police operation at the (Central Administrative Building) CAB off Palm Boulevard in the parking lot between the CAB and Sam's Stadium.
In a report by an officer,  it stated that a drug-sniffing dog hit upon a car in the parking lot and when the owner was found it turned out to be an employee (DeLeon) of the central office. The school cops turned tight-lipped at confirming the identity of the suspect and cited the ongoing investigation as a justification for their discretion. 

Workers at the CAB said at the time was that the owner of the car worked at the central building in the office of Area Assistant Superintendent Educational Services Rachel Ayala, who was not the object of the probe herself. DeLeon was Ayala's protege and he was allowed to leave the premises without having to undergo a search of his vehicle.

To see full story, click on link: https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2024/06/tsc-runoff-de-leon-has-outworn-his.html

TRUMP: AFFORDABILITY IS A DEMOCRATIC HOAX...

Trump both defended his administration's track record on the economy and said that talk of affordability was overblown. Trump told the crowd in Mount Pocono, Pa., that he believed the term "affordability" was a "hoax" perpetrated by Democrats. Trump's recent assertions dismissing inflation are not backed by official government economic data.
 

AND ALL THAT TIME WE THOUGHT ZORILLOS COULDN'T SWIM...

Corners News

Laredo, Texas - A high speed vehicle pursuit near the U.S. Mexico border ended dramatically Friday afternoon when a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) patrol unit rolled into the Rio Grande due to an electronic malfunction, though no one was injured.

According to a statement from the DPS Public Information Officer, the incident began at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Friday when a DPS trooper assisted U.S. Border Patrol with a traffic stop on a white Ford Fusion traveling on U.S. Highway 83 South near Mangana Hein Road.

The driver refused to stop, prompting a pursuit. The Ford Fusion continued west on Don Camilo Boulevard from U.S. 83, approaching the intersection of Riddle Drive and Wilfrano Drive. The vehicle then veered off road toward the river and became disabled on a dirt hill.

The driver and two passengers fled the vehicle on foot and ran toward the river. As troopers pursued the suspects, the DPS unit experienced a malfunction with its electronic safety park/brake switch, causing the unoccupied patrol vehicle to roll into the river. The trooper was not inside the unit at the time, and no injuries resulted from the fleet accident.

The two passengers were arrested and confirmed to be in the country illegally. The driver successfully swam across the river back into Mexico and was not apprehended. DPS officials stated that the suspects vehicle will be processed for evidence.

The incident highlights the challenges law enforcement faces in border operations, including vehicle pursuits that can quickly escalate in rugged terrain near the Rio Grande. No further details on charges or the identities of those involved were immediately released.

This account is based off official DPS PIO statement.

THE FALLACY OF RACE SUPERIORITY AND MANIFEST DESTINY

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS, WHO COME TO YOU IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING...

 

Feminist News

Pete Hegseth — Secretary of Defense, self-proclaimed Christian warrior, man who tattooed "Deus Vult" (God wills it, the battle cry of the Crusades) on his body — led a prayer service at the Pentagon and solemnly recited what he called "Ezekiel 25:17."

There's just one problem.

That's not a Bible verse. That's a Quentin Tarantino script.

The "prayer" Hegseth read is Samuel L. Jackson's famous monologue from Pulp Fiction — a speech the character Jules Winnfield delivers right before he executes someone. Jules himself admits in the film that he never actually looked it up. He recited it because, and I quote, "I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherf---er before you popped a cap in his ass."

Hegseth didn't know the difference.

The actual Ezekiel 25:17 is one sentence long. One sentence. The man could have opened any Bible — they're literally free — or Googled it in 4 seconds. 

But he didn't, because this was never about the Bible. It was never about faith. It was about performance. It was about vibes. It was about using the aesthetics of Christianity as a prop, the way his boss holds up a Bible he's never read for a photo-op outside a church he teargassed peaceful protesters to reach.

And this is the perfect metaphor for this entire administration.
They don't read. They don't study. They don't believe — not really. They just make things up that sound authoritative, recite them with confidence, and trust that their base won't check. Whether it's economic policy, immigration law, Constitutional precedent, or apparently Scripture — it's all vibes and fabrication all the way down.

Christianity — a faith centered on caring for the poor, welcoming the stranger, and loving your enemy — has been hijacked and weaponized into a shield for white nationalist imperialism. For mass deportations. For bombing campaigns blessed with fake Bible verses. 

For a "Religious Liberty Commission" that exists to give powerful people the right to discriminate, not to protect the vulnerable.

TRAIL OF QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENT, PERFORMANCE, DOGS LAGUNA VISTA MAYORAL CANDIDATE DARLA JONES

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

At Laguna Vista, rumors of past blunders by mayoral candidate Darla Jones are not jut rumors, they're a documented record.

These stories aren't based on rumors or opinions. They come from official records, internal evaluations, formal public information requests, and a written statement from respected individuals in the community stretching more than a  decade. When you look at everything together, it raises real concerns.

Documentation acquired through public information requests to the City of South Padre Island confirms there is additional information on city files, with certain personal details withheld under state law. Even with those redactions, what was released paints a clear picture.

The information released of incidents during her time serving as Assistant City Manager for the City of South Padre Island, shows Jones received a formal written warning for violating city policy involving alcohol on city property during a work-related event. 

That alone might be written off as a lapse in judgment, but the rest of the record shows similar issues continuing over time. But 

internal evaluations document repeated concerns about transparency and communication. There were multiple instances where significant project issues, budget concerns, and operational problems were known in advance, in some cases months ahead of time, but were not communicated until much later. 

Those delays limited city leadership’s ability to respond, increased risk to the city, and allowed problems to grow before they were addressed.

These weren’t isolated situations. The record speak for itself and shows she was coached more than once on the same types of issues, including the need to clearly communicate major changes, costs, and risks. Yet, a careful reading indicates that despite that guidance, similar concerns continued to appear.

One of the most serious issues documented relates to how required public processes were handled. Evaluations note that proper public participation procedures were not consistently followed. This cannot be considered minor technical issues. These processes exist to protect the city, ensure transparency, and avoid legal challenges.

According to the evaluations, failures in these required processes were linked to two lawsuits in that same year.

If you're a Laguna Vista resident and care about the city, that matters.
It means the breakdown didn’t stay internal. It escalated into legal action. It exposed the city to risk. It required time, resources, and public funds to address. And ultimately, those consequences fall on the community.

This is not  a hypothetical risk. This is documented impact.

Her evaluations also raise concerns about judgment and leadership. Notes reflect situations where recommendations were not aligned with the city’s best interests, along with ongoing communication challenges and difficulty working effectively with others. There are also comments about being overly critical in day-to-day operations and how that impacted staff and collaboration.

And these concerns aren’t limited to internal documents.

Local resident Tara Rios submitted a written statement describing an interaction she experienced that she says was aggressive, inappropriate, and intimidating, and it happened in front of her children. 

According to her account, what should have been a routine situation escalated unnecessarily. She raised concerns about how authority was used and formally requested that the situation be reviewed, noting that it may reflect a broader pattern of behavior.

When you step back and look at all of this together, the disciplinary action, the repeated coaching, the delayed communication of known issues, and the fact that documented process failures were linked to two lawsuits in a single year, along with a real experience from someone in the community, it becomes harder to dismiss these as isolated incidents.

The same concerns show up again and again.

At some point, it stops being coincidence and starts being a pattern.
Voters should step back and ask themselves: Is this who you want leading the town? 

VFW FETES VETERANS' SPOUSES THIS COMING MAY 8

FOR TRUMP, THE IRAN MESS IS NOW THE ARTLESSNESS OF A DEAL

The Other 98%

The man who literally wrote "The Art of the Deal" is now reportedly offering to unfreeze $20 billion in Iranian assets to reopen a strait that was wide open before he started his war of choice, and the greatest business mind in human history is scrambling to buy his way out of a crisis he created. 

This is the same man who recently referred to the Strait of Hormuz as the "Strait of Iran," which tracks, because at this point he basically handed it to them.

The staggering irony here is impossible to ignore. Under the Obama nuclear deal, the U.S. lifted sanctions on frozen Iranian funds and sent $1.7 billion to settle decades-old failed contracts, the very arrangement trump and Republicans spent years calling a national disgrace and a handout to terrorists. 

That deal came with real, verified nuclear limits and rigorous international inspections. Now the world's greatest negotiator is looking at paying $20 billion for a deal that offers weaker protections and still has gaping holes, including on the Strait itself.

And as of today, even the definition of "open" is up for debate. Iran declared the strait open for commercial vessels while simultaneously requiring ships to follow a state-controlled route near Iranian coastline. trump hailed it as a win while keeping the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports fully in place. 

So the man who turned Atlantic City casinos into spectacular financial rubble is running the same playbook on American foreign policy: walk in with swagger, blow up what was working, and then pay more than you would have originally to dig out of the hole. 

The only difference is this time the rest of the world is holding the debt.

ANOTHER MONUMENTAL MASSAGE TO HIS HUGE EGO: THE ARC D'TRUMP

President Donald J. Trump’s 250-foot “triumphal arch” has been preliminarily approved by a federal commission. The monument, whose cost has not been released, carries the feel of a Trump design: It is simply massive.

MICHIGAMA NATIVES GET A TASTE OF BARBACOA DE CABEZA DE VENDADO

 By Juan Montoya

Just recently, actually, a few days ago, as I surfed idly through the Spectrum channels, I came across a segment of MeatEater, hosted by Steven Rinella, and saw an episode where he was demonstrating the cooking of a venison head attempting to duplicate a story he had read of early Mountain Men doing it.

His skeptical hunter friends turned up their noses at the thought of eating the meat, but watched as he wrapped it in aluminum foil and then in a wet burlap bag and tossed it under the coals of a fire. After a few hours, the head was unwrapped and the hunters were surprised at how good the barbacoa de cabeza de venison was. 

Now, I'd be lying if I was to say that I'm a big fan of barbacoa de cabeza.

Each Sunday you can see the lines forming at the well-known places all over town that specialize in this typical Sunday fare (like Vera's and Marcelo's on Southmost). Entire families crowd around the doors of these establishments to purchase a few pounds of the steamed beef-head meat. They either drive through the places or emerge from the stores and restaurants with brown paper bags spotted dark with the grease from this delicacy.

Add in a few dozen corn tortillas, salsa, cilantro and diced onions, and presto! you have the traditional South Texas Sunday barbacoa.

As I said, I'm no fan. Oh, yeah, I will partake of a taquito or two, but just looking at the grease coagulating on the wax paper makes my heart hurt.

However, as the saying goes, distance makes the heart grow fonder.

I was in the middle of the Michigan peninsula (the Middle of the Mitten) in the mid-1980s working for a Saginaw newspaper and living near Mt. Pleasant, about an hour and a half away. 

In those days the Mexican food craze hadn't reached out into the Michigama hinterlands. If you wanted fresh menudo or even barbacoa, you just about had to cook it yourself. That opportunity presented itself one night when my late father-in-law and my cuñados – all of them Chippewa Tribal members – went out hunting for a deer on their 80 allotted acres. Unlike many Natives, they hadn't clear-cut all their property so the Bureau of Indian Affairs could not rent them to local farmers for a song and instead kept them in their natural state of tall pine and thick underbrush. It was an ideal habitat for animals, not few of which were entire herds  of white-tail deer.

Natives are allowed to hunt on their allotted property without restrictions year-round, a throwback to the old treaties that allowed them to hunt for subsistence any time of the year.

About an hour or so after they left they returned with a large doe. Those deer are not the pygmies we know in South Texas. They stand shoulder high or taller than man.  They set about to skin it and hung it from its hind legs to a nearby tree as they butchered it. I was watching them as they did it and after they cut off the head, I asked them what they were going to do with it.

"We'll give it to the dogs," they answered and were about to heave it nearby when I asked them if I could have it.
"What for?," they asked.
"I'm going to make barbacoa out of it," I said to their startled looks.

Since it was the dead of winter the ground was frozen hard and there was no way that I could even get a spade into the ground, I skinned the head of hide and hair and wrapped it in thick aluminum foil. I made a small hole at the top and prepared some spices which I mixed in water and poured it into the opening. I then set the oven at 350 degrees and forgot about it for the rest of the night.

My late mother-in-law had heard about me asking for the doe's head and had wandered over to see what her crazy Mexican son-in-law was going to do with the doe's head. When she came in the door, she was met by the glazed-eye gaze of the doe head resting on the oven's open door, it's tongue hanging out of one side of its mouth.

"Geez, Faithy," she asked her daughter genuinely frightened. "What is that?"

In the morning the household woke up to the fragrance of freshly-made barbacoa. The wafer-thin bones of the doe's head literally slid off the tender, succulent flesh. Since the doe was a woodland animal and ate the foliage of the Michigan forest, there was little, if any, fat at all on the carcass.

The smell wafted through the nearby homes and it wasn't long before my in-laws and cuñados were crowding in the door to investigate. My ex had learned how to make flour tortillas by hand under the tutelage on my mom in Brownsville and a fresh batch was coming off the griddle. I had cooked up a green salsa and the plates were ready.

When my mother-in-law entered the door attracted by the smell, I pulled up the chair of honor and placed a fresh flour tortilla with barbacoa before her.

"In honor of your place and out of of respect for our elders we saved the eyes for you," I told her.

It was a while before we could convince her that I had only been kidding.