TRUMP CALLS IN BOMB THREAT TO COVER UP LOW FAIR ATTENDANCE

La Cebolla

WASHINGTON—Claiming there were strings of explosive devices planted throughout the National Mall, President Donald Trump reportedly attempted to cover up low attendance at the Great American State Fair this week by calling in a bomb threat. 

“There’s a series of explosives in unmarked duffel bags all across the fairgrounds, which are beautiful by the way, so you’d better evacuate everyone as fast as you can, don’t even bother stopping to count how many people there are,” Trump said from his Oval Office phone, pinching his nose in an effort to disguise his voice. 

“You’ll regret it big time if all the attendees, however many there may possibly be, don’t flee back to their homes this instant. This incredibly successful and beloved event is officially over!” 

According to sources, the president concluded the warning by casually stating his name was Sleepy Joe Biden and then hanging up the receiver.

BROWNSVILLE, MATAMOROS KEY CITIES FOR HUACHICOL FUEL CARTEL SCHEMES: WHO'S NEXT ON THE FBI LIST?

eltejanorgv.com

The bridge between Brownsville and Matamoros moves thousands of cars and trucks every day. Some of the fuel on those trucks is legal. A lot of it is not. A family with ties on both sides of that bridge has been linked to those criminal networks for years.

El Tejano has learned that Jesus Juraidini of Brownsville and Carlos Juraidini are relatives of the man Treasury froze on June 30, 2026. His name is Oscar Guillermo Juraidini Silva. He is a Matamoros accountant. Treasury says he ran the money side of CJNG. That is the Jalisco cartel.

Jesus Juraidini said in federal court he was the Gulf Cartel's main extortion man in the Rio Grande Valley. He paid $2.5 million in cartel cash for homes and buildings across Hidalgo County. A federal judge gave him three years of probation in November 2023. He did not go to prison.

His relative in Matamoros was building a fuel theft empire. For a rival cartel. On June 30, 2026, the U.S. froze every company he ran. Six firms in Matamoros. One shell company in London named Cucumber Sweet Waves.

Two cartels. One family. One bridge.

That is not the story Treasury told. This is the story behind it.

What the Government Knew and When

Six years before the June 30 sanctions, the FBI was already watching one of the men named that day.

In early 2020, a Mexican trucking firm called Jomadi Logistics and Cargo signed a deal with Venezuela. Jomadi would supply high-octane gasoline to Venezuela. In exchange for five million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil. Venezuela needed gas. Its leader, Nicolas Maduro, was blocked by U.S. sanctions. The deal was set up to dodge those sanctions.

By May 2020, a news report said the FBI and Treasury were looking at Jomadi and its boss, J. Refugio Ruiz Villagomez. They were looking at him for helping Maduro break U.S. law.

No charges. No freeze. No action.

Jomadi kept moving fuel.

By 2026, Jomadi had a new client. Same trucks. Same fake paperwork. Same border. But now the fuel was moving for CJNG. The U.S. called CJNG a terrorist group in February 2025.

The June 30 action left one question open. Why did it take six years to freeze a man and a company the FBI had already looked at?

How the Scheme Works

The fuel theft scheme in this case has a name. Huachicol fiscal. Fiscal fuel theft.

The whole scheme is a tax lie. Mexico charges a fuel tax called IEPS on every liter of gas sold there. Cartel traders found a way to skip it. Here is how.

Fuel traders in the United States buy gas and diesel at legal export spots. They load it on trucks, train cars, and ships. They drive it toward Mexico. At the border, they give agents fake papers. The papers say the load is "waste oil" or some other item that does not need permits. The fuel gets in. The tax never gets paid. The cartel keeps the tax money. The gas ends up at cartel-run stations.

The cash flows back north. Through trucking firms, cash exchanges, real estate deals, and shell companies.

Reports say between one quarter and one third of all gas sold in Mexico comes from fraud like this. Mexico loses $11 billion a year in taxes to it.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this is now the second biggest way cartels make money. Right behind drugs.

The Matamoros Money Machine

Oscar Guillermo Juraidini Silva is 41 years old. He was born in Tamaulipas. He is an accountant. The U.S. says he built the money system for CJNG's fuel ring.

His companies had different jobs.

Centro Cambiario La Peseta opened in Matamoros in 2012. It is a cash exchange. A cash exchange inside a cartel network does one thing: it makes dirty money look like clean business income.

OF Transportes ran a white truck fleet. Ogui Fletes ran a blue freight line. Its trucks roll through Matamoros with the company name on the door.

OJ Living Trust, RK Real King, and Soma Transporte y Servicios handled real estate and money services.

All six are in Matamoros. All six are now frozen.

The seventh company was in London.

Cucumber Sweet Waves Ltd was set up in London on September 2, 2024. The address: 27 Old Gloucester Street. Juraidini was named its director on January 8, 2025. A UK firm checked his ID in January 2026. The company filed papers that same month saying it did no business. A cartel accountant. A London shell company. Filed as dormant. Then frozen on June 30, 2026.

The Brownsville Side

Jesus Juraidini pleaded guilty in federal court in McAllen on March 22, 2021.

Court records show the scheme ran from January 2010 through November 2018. He paid more than $2.5 million in cash to a Mission builder named Delfino Gaona. Gaona bought and built at least six homes and shops in Hidalgo County with that cash. He broke the cash into smaller amounts. That way no report had to be filed.

A lawyer for a co-defendant said in open court that Jesus Juraidini told the FBI he was the Gulf Cartel's main extortion man. He also washed millions for them. The government did not push back.

Jesus Juraidini helped the FBI. He agreed to pay back $2,519,000. He gave up 10 properties in Hidalgo County.

The FBI, DEA, Texas DPS, the Hidalgo County Sheriff, and police in McAllen and Pharr all worked it.

On November 9, 2023, Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane sentenced Jesus Juraidini to three years of probation.

He did not go to prison.

$7 Billion. Brownsville Named First.

After a May 2025 alert, banks filed 160 reports in one year. All tied to CJNG's fuel ring. Those reports covered $7 billion in suspect cash. Texas was the top state. Florida was second.

In Texas, the reports were heavy in border cities. Brownsville was listed first. Then Mission. Then Eagle Pass. Then McAllen. Most of the businesses flagged were in oil, gas, and trucking.

The South Texas Homeland Security Task Force led the case. The DEA, FBI, HSI, the IRS, and Border Patrol all worked it.

CJNG's top boss died in February 2026. The money machine did not stop. It kept running. It does not need any one boss. It runs on money men and truck firms. On cash shops and fake companies. On false papers and border crossings.

Two cartels. One family. Six years of watching Jomadi. One bridge.

The FinCEN report named Brownsville first.

El Tejano will continue to follow this story.

To visit news site, click on link: https://www.eltejanorgv.com/a-fake-company-named-cucumber-sweet-waves-was-hiding-cjng-money-south-texas-is-in-the-middle/

"FIND THE COST OF FREEDOM...BURIED IN THE GROUND..."

 

SIGN UP FOR THE 4TH OF JULY LT. DAN MOTORYCLE RUN YET?

THE U.S. ARMY AND STILLMAN: "THE LAND DIDN'T BELONG TO ANYBODY..."

  

(Ed.'s Note: Ever since we were children, we have been told that when Gen. Zachary Taylor arrived on the site of present-day Brownsville, he found nothing but barren land and upon that land he built Fort Texas, afterwards named Ft. Brown for Major Jacob Brown, killed after being struck in the knee by a Mexican cannon ball that bounced off  a wall. Brown did die, but when the U.S. Army came upon the land, there was a prosperous rancho, growing cotton, sugar cane and beans, etc., and at least 12 "substantial" buildings and strong fencing. The U.S. entered into a rental agreement with its owner Miguel Salinas, who now lies buried in the Santa Rosalia Cemetery.

Army engineers used his fencing to fortify the earthworks, and then, to prevent Mexican soldiers from using the buildings as cover, they demolished them. Neither Salinas nor his heirs ever got paid for his land, the buildings or for the crops destroyed by the soldiers at Ft. Brown. Below is a record of the hearings before the U.S. House Committee on War Claims on the Salinas family claim, some 40 yeas after the government took their land. Then Charles Stillman and his lawyers tied up the title in court and eventually sold the land without clear title to establish the town. We thank Dr. Marie Theresa Hernandez Ramirez, Professor and Researcher of World Cultures and Literatures from the University of Houston for providing us with this document.)

By Juan Montoya

51st Congress, First Session

April 21, 1890.

Committee on War Claims

The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. B. 3433) for the relief of the heirs of Miguel Salinas, have had the same under consideration, and respectfully report:

This bill was presented in the Fiftieth Congress, first session, and favorably reported from the Committee on War Claims. The report of that committee is concurred in and adopted by this committee. Miguel Salinas was the owner and occupant.of a large plantation on the Rio Grande, in Cameron County, Texas, and had been for twenty years prior to 1840. That year, in the month of March, the United States troops, commanded by General Zachary Taylor, encamped upon this plantation, which
was an exceedingly valuable one, and at this time, as in prior years, in a high state of cultivation. 

The lands were very extensive, and at the time of occupation by the Army, as above stated, had growing upon them very large crops of cotton, corn, sugar cane, beans, about half matured.

There were also twelve houses, and built of concrete brick, some of them being very large and commodious, and all of them substantial and serviceable. Three of these were the permanent residence of Miguel Salinas and his family, and the others were used by the servants and for store-houses. There was also a wind-mill, a large and very strong cattle-pen, a great amount of fencing in perfect condition and with upright posts, together with farming utensils and other belongings necessary for conducting the operations of so large a ranch.

The troops took possession of all the houses on the plantation, and on the 14th of April, 1846, Capt. G. H. Crossman, assistant quarter-master U. S. Army, rented seven of them, by contract with Miguel
Salinas, at $1.50 a day each, for as long a time as the Government thought proper to occupy them. This contract was approved by the commanding officer General General Zachary Taylor, and the original is now on file with the Comptroller's office; a copy herewith.

It was also further stipulated in the said contract that if any alterations were found necessary to be made while occupied by the Government, it would only be done with the consent of the owner, and should not detract from their value. A fort was built upon the plantation of said Miguel Salinas; and called Fort  (Texas), later Brown, after the officer in command. In order to render it bomb-proof, Assistant Quartermaster Captain Crossman ordered all the fences on the place hauled to the fort and used by Captain and Engineer Mansfield for that purpose. The work gave great protection to the troops, and part of the fencing was also used by them for fuel.

There was also one cattle pen or corral used by the troops, which was of the best material and strongly built. The houses were used for the storage of supplies for the troops, officers' quarters, hospital purposes, and quarters for the men who were not furnished with tents. In the attack upon Fort (Texas), Major Brown who was in charge of the fort, ordered the destruction of these houses as a matter of safety to our men who were then working on the fort.

This was done with the approval of General Taylor, who had previously given instructions to Major Brown, before the battle of Palo Alto was fought, to destroy these houses if he found they were in  anywise an impediment to the operations of the fort.

The occupancy by the United States Army of the plantation of the said Miguel Salinas, the building of Fort Brown thereon, the burning of his houses, together with the destruction of his crop, fences, and
corral, etc., nearly beggared him, and he was compelled to procure a home for himself and family in Matamoros, as everything on his plantation was swept away completely.

He was in undisputed possession of the said lands for twenty years previous to the Mexican War, and yet but $11.12 (and that amount was paid in pork by Captain G.H. Crossman) did he ever receive from the Government for or on account of rent of his houses or compensation for damages and loss of all his property.

While litigation has caused delay to determine ownership of several undivided interests of the grant of land of which his plantation is a part, and the Government has hitherto declined to pass on his accounts for rent notwithstanding its contract with the said Miguel Salinas, it is conclusively shown that the latter acquired his right by purchase and his claim against the United States has continuously remained unchallenged, by anyone.

At the close of the war with Mexico a permanent garrison was established on a portion of these grounds. In 1848 the Government refused the first-time payment of rent for the same, as there were numerous claimants for title. The contestants went into court, and the matter was not finally adjudicated until October, 1879, when time United States Supreme Court decreed in a favor of Cavazos (see volume 100, page 138, of United States Supreme Court Reports); and Miguel Salinas holds title to his land from Cavazos by Purchase. Salinas again presented this claim in 1849, only to be again advised that settlement of disputed title caused further delay. 

He made subsequent applications, but met with no success.

This claim was presented in 1849 to Quartermaster-General Thomas S. Jesup and in August of that year that officer wrote to Major Crossman, who made the contract with Salinas for the renting of the buildings requesting him to furnish information regarding this claim and others for rest of grounds.

After the receipt of the above report from Major Crossman, General Thomas S. Jesup (Quartermaster General) writes to Conrad, Secretary of War, under the date of August 13, 1852, as follows, in reference to this claim:

"As far as the public agents entered into contracts we are unquestionably bound in good faith. to fulfill  them, but the contracts were limited to a compensation of $1.50 a day for the houses and cattle-pen on the land when it was occupied and these contracts probably terminated with the destruction of the buildings; but, having rented them, it is a question whether we are not bound to pay for them, they having been destroyed by order of the commanding officer.

I submit a report of Major Crossman giving the facts in relationship to the original establishment of the troops upon the site and the contract with Mr. Salinas; also a report of Major Crossman in relation to the arrangement with Mr. (Charles) Stillman, whose title has merged in that of Mr. Cavazos."

The heirs of Salinas, being wholly unfamiliar with the English language, and having to depend upon the attorneys for Cavazos, who were also interested in the suits, and the incidental change of' counsel by death, removal from the country, and other circumstances, left claimants wholly at their mercy and the delay by the Government in the settlement of the accounts of the claimants is one which otherwise can be regarded than seriously unjust, and should be immediately remedied, as the title to the ownership of the various claimants to the land has been settled by a recent opinion of the Attorney General, and which pretext the Government has availed itself of heretofore refusing payment.

Then, in January 31, 1891, the Committee on Military Affairs contradicted the 1846 contract and earlier report by Quartermaster Crossman and the value of the Salinas ranch, buildings and improvements by stating that: 

(To read about the theft of Miguel Salinas' land by the U.S. Government, and later, by Charles Stillman, click on link below. The author, Sara C. Bronin, is a property law professor at Cornell University and a direct descendant of Miguel Salinas.)

https://www.latinobookreview.com/8203land-grab-the-untold-story-of-fort-brown-by-sara-c-bronin--latino-book-review.html

MCALLEN ATTORNEY, 5 CO-DEFENDANTS, INDICTED FOR ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, FORGERY OF COURT DOCUMENTS, PERJURY

By Juan Montoya

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive..."

And then you get indicted.

The Cameron County courthouse is abuzz with the indictments and arrest of  McAllen attorney Nacer Aounallah and five other defendants, including a notary public and other confederates, who – if the charges filed against them by the the Cameron County District Attorney's Office prove true – knowingly engaged in criminal activity to forge an affidavit and submit it to a district court.

Court records indicate that Aounallah – now free on $40,000 bond –  was indicted by a grand jury this June 24, 2026 with his fellow defendants Ron Chamberlain, his law office employee, alleged false witnesses Robert Foehringher and Erica Lynn Peña, Esmeralda Gonzales and notary public Maria Candelaria Medina, on one count of engaging in criminal activity, three counts of forgery of a government instrument (a false affidavit), and one count of aggravated perjury.

The charges in the criminal case (2026-DCR-01686), stem, innocuously enough, from an affidavit filed by his divorce attorney to a trial court cause styled 2025-DCL-02175, in Cameron County before 404th District Court presided by State District Judge Ricardo Adobbati. The affidavit was provided by Nacer Aounallah to his attorney and represented as having been made and signed by Nacer Aounallah's wife Dennis.

Records indicate that part of the record in that case indicates that Aounallah was arrested by Palm Valley Police March 1, 2025, on a charge of assaulting a 14-year-old child (his son). Aounallah posted a $25,000 cash surety bond and was released.

District Attorney Office investigators presented evidence to the jury that the notarized affidavit purportedly signed by his wife was false and included alleged self admissions and false statements where she admitted that:

1. The charges of assault against his son were false.

2.  That she was having an affair with the Palm Valley officer who arrested him on the assault charge

3. That she was consuming and possessing cocaine with the officer's knowledge.

An affidavit for warrant of arrest filed by CCDA's Office investigator Albert Toriz, June 3, indicates that Aounallah's co-defendants in the organized criminal activity and forgery case – through interviews and videotaped recordings –have admitted that they knew the affidavit filed in court April 2025 had not been made or signed by his wife Dennis and that she had not been present when the document was signed by someone else.

Also introduced into Toriz's affidavit were text messages and consensual recorded conversations between Aounallah and some of the defendants where he allegedly coaches some of them on how to respond to police and on just giving police copies of the false affidavits they signed at his direction to deceive the court.

"Based on the Affiant's (Toriz's) training, experience, interviews, recordings, and evidence, Nacer Aounalah orchestrated, authored, or produced the false...affidavit...and had it notarized with the assistance of Esmeralda Gonzalez and Maria Candelaria Medina, (and allowed) his attorney Ruth Serra, to introduce the fasle affidavit knowing it was false. (He) further allowed his attorney...to call Ron Chamberlain to stand and be sworn under oath...knowing that (he) was also committing aggravated perjury and lying to the court." 

MAGAS LOVE TRUMP AND HATE FREELOADERS, AND ARE ON WELFARE

SPACEX, D-27 TEXAS SEN. HINOJOSA CELEBRATE 2ND ANNUAL 4TH OF JULY AT BOCA CHICA BEACH

 

WAS NAVARRO A TRUE-BLUE TEXAN, OR A DUPE OF ANGLO FILIBUSTERS?

Lonestar Receipts

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Fifty-nine men signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Only two of them were actually born in Texas.

José Antonio Navarro was one of them.

Born in San Antonio on February 27, 1795, Navarro came into a world where his city had already changed hands multiple times and would keep changing. During his lifetime, Texas lived under six different governments — a Spanish colony, a Mexican state, an independent republic, an American state, a Confederate state, and then an American state again. Through every single one of them, Navarro stayed. He was Texas. Texas was him. 

He taught himself law. Built himself into a successful merchant and rancher. Became a trusted ally of Stephen F. Austin. And when the moment came to choose between safety and principle, he walked to Washington-on-the-Brazos and put his name on a document that was, if the Revolution failed, a death warrant.

Of all 59 signers of the Declaration of Independence, Navarro and his uncle José Francisco Ruiz were the only men born in Texas. They had the deepest roots, the most to lose, and nowhere to run. Surviving Anglos could potentially return to the United States if the war was lost. For Navarro and the other Tejano signers, there was nowhere to go.

He signed anyway.

He was the only man to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, and the Constitution of the State of Texas. Three founding documents. One Tejano from San Antonio who was there for all of it. 

But the story doesn't stop at independence. In 1841, Navarro joined the ill-fated Santa Fe Expedition. It was a disaster. He was captured, put on trial, sentenced to death, and imprisoned for years in the most dreaded prison in Veracruz — a place known as a prison of living death. 

His captors gave him a way out. Denounce Texas. Swear loyalty to Mexico. Walk free.

He refused. He told them: "I have sworn to be a free Texan, and I shall never forswear." 

Those words are carved into the entrance wall of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin today.

He eventually escaped, made his way back to Texas, and was received as a hero. He served in the Texas Congress. He was the sole Tejano delegate to the Convention of 1845 that brought Texas into the United States. He spent the rest of his life fighting for the rights of Tejanos in a Republic and then a State that didn't always want to honor them.

When he died, the editor of a local newspaper wrote: "To none of her greatest statesmen nor to her many eminent patriots is Texas more indebted for her existence than to José Antonio Navarro." 

Navarro County bears his name. So does a street in downtown San Antonio, a school, and a state historic site at the home where he lived and died. His descendants still gather every year to celebrate his birthday.

He was born Texan before Texas existed. He signed it into existence. He bled for it in a Mexican prison. And he never once considered being anything else.

USA MNT BEATS BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, FACES BELGIUM MONDAY IN ROUND OF 16

By Chuck Booth
CBS

It's been 24 years since the United States won a knockout stage game at a World Cup, and despite needing to finish the match with 10 men due to a red card to star player Folarin Balogun, the US Men's National Team kept their composure to win 2-0. Balogun scored right before the half, hitting the LeBron James silencer celebration, and it seemed like the USMNT would be off and running, but they'd have to face adversity after a strong start in order to see the match out.

After a VAR review, Balogun was sent off in the 64th minute after a challenge on a Bosnian player but between Sebastian Berhalter and Ricardo Pepi entering to provide balance and the USMNT keeping their attacking midset, it was enough to see the game out as late, Malik Tillman caught Bosnia and Herzegovina keeper Nikola Vasilj cheating on a free kick to give the USMNT a much needed insurance goal.

Christian Pulisic and Sergino Dest weren't at their best, and the USMNT finished with 10, but this is the kind of game where their mentality under Pochettino shows. They never gave up despite adversity, and now they've accomplished something that hasn't been done since 2002 under Bruce Arena, while having the pressure of playing on home soil on them. Now, they'll play in the round of 16 on July 6 at Lumen Field in Seattle, facing a familiar foe in Belgium.

THE SHOOTER WAS TO BE TACKLED BY THE SECRET SERVICE SPLASHING ACROSS THE REFLECTION POOL!

Assassination Cancellation due to small crowds.

 

SUMMER SURPRISE: GOP J.P. CANDIDATE RICARDO ALEJANDRO WITHDRAWS FROM NOV. 3 GENERAL ELECTION VS. MARY ESTHER SOROLA

(Ed.'s Note: Incumbent Camron County Justice of the Peace Pct. 2, Place 3, Mary Esther Sorola got a pleasant Summer Surprise this June 23 after her Republican Party challenger thought better of it and withdrew from the Nov. 3 election. This means that Sorola will run unopposed and guaranteed the win. Sorola, one of the hardest working JPs in the county, is probably breathing a sigh of relief that she won't have to undergo the ordeal of a summer-long campaign heading into the Fall.) 

 

ROAR ON THE FOURTH: JOIN INAUGURAL 4TH OF JULY FREEDOM RUN!

 

CAPT. BOB THE CATCH OF THE D.A.? WHAT DID HE DO NOW?

(Ed.'s Note: No, we looked in the Brownsville Police Dept. blog and there was no sign of Robert "Capt. Bob" Sanchez among the inmates. Apparently, it was "fake news" that he had been caught by Cameron County D.A. Luis Saenz – the catch of the D.A. – as one of our readers thought the marquee in front of his restaurant implied. We hope this post doesn't jinx the good captain. Puro fun, Bob!)  

EL TRI TO THE ROUND OF 16, PLAYS SUNDAY VS. ENGLAND OR THE CONGO: USA PLAYS TODAY VS. BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Mexico's Raul Jimenez (9) celebrates with teammates after scoring their second goal during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Mexico and Ecuador in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 30, 2026.Silvia Izquierdo/AP

By NPR

Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — The 40-year wait is over. Mexicans had learned to live with defeats in the knockout stages of the World Cup. On seven occasions, El Tri fans were left heartbroken at this stage.

Not anymore.

Julián Quiñones and Raúl Jiménez scored within a nine-minute span in the first half and Mexico defeated Ecuador 2-0 on Tuesday night to break a four-decade drought in the knockout stage and progress to the Round of 16.

Quiñones opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Jiménez added a goal in the 31st for the Mexicans, who had not won a knockout-stage match since defeating Bulgaria in the round of 16 when they hosted the tournament in 1986. Mexico coach Javier Aguirre was one of the starting midfielders in that '86 team.

Mexico lost seven consecutive times at that same stage from 1994 to 2018 and didn't advance past the group stage in 2022.

Jiménez scored his second goal of the tournament and has 47 with the national team to break a tie with Jared Borgetti. He is five away from tying "Chicharito" Hernández as the all-time leading scorer for Mexico.

Mexico will play another home match Sunday against the winner of Wednesday's match between England and Congo.

Playing at the iconic Azteca Stadium, the Mexican squad boasts an undefeated record across 10 World Cup matches. Mexico has just two official losses at the venue — the last being a World Cup qualifying defeat to Honduras on Sept. 6, 2013.

The USA Men's National Team will play Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight at 7 p.m. to try to break out of the Round of 32 to make the Round of 16.

PONTE LA VERDE, PAISA! WILL EL TRI SURVIVE 1ST KNOCKOUT GAME?

DO YOU THINK THE WIZARD WILL GIVE US A REAL PRESIDENT, DOROTHY?

"The bottom line is that this is what a messy but unacknowledged surrender by the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Iran looks like."

 

SPACEX, D-27 SEN. ADAM HINOJOSA, HOLD 2ND ANNUAL JULY 4TH FETE

 

SELF-RIGHTEOUS LYING HYPOCRITE WITHOUT A GOLDEN RULE? MUST BE FROM TEXAS

By Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The same people who want the Bible as required reading in Texas public schools reject the Bible’s core principles. They reject God’s call for us to be stewards of Creation.

They reject justice, mercy, love, and empathy.

They reject the call to welcome immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees.

They reject the Greatest Commandment and The Beatitudes; they grind the faces of the poor into the dirt; they line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.

In every way, they are charlatans for whom the Bible is only a political prop in a white Christian nationalist movement that people of good faith must oppose.

INSURRECTION BLUES: ARE YOU REALLY SURE YOU WANT TO RELIVE THIS?

Tronald sued the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for $10 Billion for “intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring" a speech Tronald gave on 6 January 2021, before the US Capitol riots.

In court, the BBC asked Tronald’s lawyers for the following:

Your move, Tronald Dump!

TRUMP'S ANTI-NATO BABBLING BOOMERANGS IN AUSSIE'S REPLY

By Zachra Zahra

(Ed.'s Note: This Australian's reply to Trump's rant about "NATO not being there for America" is perfect.)

Mate. You run a country with 600,000 homeless people sleeping on the streets at night. A country where 40 percent of adults can't cover a $400 emergency without borrowing money. A country where insulin costs more than a car payment and people are rationing it to survive.

A country where medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy. A country where women are dying in hospital parking lots because doctors are too scared of abortion laws to treat a miscarriage.

You lock up more of your own citizens than any nation on earth.

 More than China. 

More than Russia. 

More than North Korea. 

The land of the free has 2 million people in cages, and a quarter of them haven't even been convicted of anything. They're just too poor to make bail. Your life expectancy is going backwards. 

You're the only developed nation where that's happening. Your infant mortality rate is worse than Cuba's. Your kids do active shooter drills between math and English while you sell the gunmaker's stock to your mates. 

Your minimum wage hasn't moved in 15 years. You've got teachers working 2 jobs and veterans sleeping under bridges and you just spent a trillion dollars flattening a country that didn't attack you. 

And you’ve got a convicted felon, adjudicating raping, pedophile protecting, porn star shagging insurrectionist running the biggest dumpster fire war campaign since the Taliban thanked you very much for losing again. 

And you're calling Greenland poorly run? Greenland has universal healthcare. Free education. One of the lowest incarceration rates in the world. Nobody goes bankrupt there because they got sick. Nobody dies in a waiting room because their insurance said no. 

'NATO wasn't there when we needed them." When exactly was that, champ? September 11? Because NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history FOR YOU. 

Soldiers from dozens of countries deployed, fought, bled, and died in Afghanistan FOR YOU.

 Australia wasn't even in NATO and we still showed up. For 20 years. And you pulled out at 2a.m. without telling anyone and left them to deal with the mess. 

So maybe before you start calling other countries poorly run, have a look at your own backyard, you spray-tanned aluminum siding salesman. The only thing poorly run in this picture is your f----- mouth."

MEXICO PLAYS TUESDAY, U.S. WEDNESDAY IN KNOCKOUT ROUND

HESGETH, GENERAL BONESPUR CONTINUE THE DECAPITATION OF OUR HONORABLE ARMED FORCES AND REAL WARRIORS

The Other 98%

Christopher Donahue was the last American soldier to leave Afghanistan. This week Pete Hegseth pushed him out of the Army. 

Donahue is not a marginal figure. He ran Delta Force. He commanded the 82nd Airborne. 

Across 34 years he fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, armed Ukraine against the Russian invasion, and was considered a leading candidate to run the entire Army.

 
Brett McGurk, who directed the campaign against ISIS under both Obama and Trump, said few people are more responsible for ISIS's defeat than Chris Donahue.

On August 30, 2021, it was Donahue who held Kabul's airport as the evacuation collapsed around him, and Donahue who walked up the ramp of the last C-17 after twenty years of war. The photo became one of the defining images of the withdrawal.

Trump and Hegseth have spent years using that withdrawal as their favorite proof of Democratic weakness. They invoke it constantly. They ordered fresh reviews of it. And the withdrawal they keep pointing to was set in motion by a deal Trump's own first administration cut with the Taliban.

The soldier who was actually there, holding the line, last man on the last plane, is the one they forced out.

He had clashed with Hegseth. That was enough. Hegseth is stripping a star from Donahue's command and thinning the senior ranks, part of a clear-out of nearly two dozen top officers since Trump returned to power.

Among the discarded: the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the first woman ever to run the Navy. Competence is not the qualification. Loyalty is.

As Donahue was being shown the door, Katie Miller, the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller, went on X to attack his character. A general who "becomes the story," she wrote, is "no longer serving his country but his own ego."

She sneered at the idea that he was a rising star.

Katie Miller is 34 years old and has never served a day in uniform. Christopher Donahue gave the Army 34 years and was the last man out of Kabul, the one who left only after everyone else was gone.

Hegseth likes to say he's bringing the warrior ethos back to the American military. But he only plays a warrior on television. Donahue was the real thing.

OUR MOUTHS WATER JUST TO LOOKING AT THIS. WHO CAN WE TALK TO GET IT?

(Ed.'s Note: We were sent this FB notice posted by Coach Joe Espinosa and Jen selling plates to help their daughter (?) Alexia compete in the 2026 PONY South Zone Girls Softball Fast Pitch World Series.

"We are selling Chicken plates to help Alexia go to the World Series in Budah,Texas. We can deliver with the purchase of 2 or more. Plates will be delivered on July the 3rd please let us know if your interested and we appreciate you guys..."

The plate looks nothing short of delicious and we are eager to contribute to the cause. Unfortunately, our stringer forgot to ask for a contact telephone number or address where the plates could be acquired. You know, when, where, etc.  If any of our readers knows where the public can get them, please send the info to rrunrrun@gmail.com or post a comment and we'll be more than glad to publish it as soon as we get it. Thanks in advance. Looks delish! Yum. yum!)

TO THE TOP OF THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE, AND BEYOND...

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

(Ed.'s Note: This series of photographs were sent to us by one of our seven readers Friday who just happened upon the crew who was removing – and installing – air conditioning units on the roof of the Dancy Building located between Madison and Monroe streets in downtown Brownsville. The weather didn't help, with the National Weather Service reporting sustained southeasterly winds around 15 mph to 20 mph, and wind gusts peaking near 30 mph to 36 mph. This brisk wind, coupled with sunny skies and highs in the 90s, kept heat index values soaring past 105 degrees. 

As the air conditioning units hovered over the historic building designed by architect Atlee B. Ayersin the Classical Revival style of architecture, workers were careful to let if sway in the gusts of wind and keep it away from the historical structure. Built between 1912 and 1914 by Gross Construction Company as the second court house of the Cameron County, it served as such until 1979 when the current courthouse was completed in the 900 block of East Harrison Street. Its relatively plain exterior belies the grandeur of the art glass dome above its central rotunda. On September 27, 1980, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.)

SATURDAY NOT-SO-FUNNY: MUCHO MOOLAH IN THEIR POCKET, OIL IN MY TEXAS TEA...

WHO CARES ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING BILL? GIMME SHELTER!!!

THERE ARE TWO THINGS TRUMPS IS OBSESSED WITH: BUILDING MONUMENTS TO HIMSELF AND MAKING SURE THE REPUBLICANS WIN THE MIDTERMS TO AVOID BEING IMPEACHED.   

NEW ADMINISTRATION AT TAX OFFICE UPLIFTS STAFF'S SKILLS

 (Ed.'s note: Responding to rumors that the staff at the Cameron County Tax Assessor's Office had failed miserably at certification exams administered by the State of Texas, El Run-Rrun sought out department director Eddie Garcia and Chief Deputy Laura Gonzalez and learned instead that for the first time in the department's history, more than 18 of its countywide staff had aced the tests and had achieved an upgrade in their certification from County Tax Office Professionals to Professional County Collectors.)

By Juan Montoya
For the first time in Cameron County history, more than a dozen and a half staff members at the Cameron County Tax Assessor-Collector's Office have upgraded their certification status with the State of Texas and have passed their certification exams to become Professional County Collectors.

This comes only 18 months after Cameron County Collector Eddie Garcia was sworn in January 1, 2025 with a campaign promise that he would upgrade the services to the public. One of those steps to provide improved and efficient service to the public was to upgrade the skills set of its staff and provide professional direction to the county's main and countywide satellite offices, Garcia said. No one failed.

"The Texas tax code is not a simple matter," Garcia said, pointing to the heavy manuals on  tax law on a shelf. "It is complex and can confuse the average taxpayer. By educating our staff, we are providing our county residents with a competent, educated team that can assist them navigate their tax accounts."

The course work required to gain the certification range from basic education Department of Motor Vehicles courses that can be taken online, to in-person instruction that required staff members to travel upstate like a course on Ethics for County Tax-Assessor Collectors.

Mandatory-Constitutional /Statutory Duty are also courses required and include Budget Planning, Public Records Release, Management and Retention, Title Fraud Training, Motor vehicle Sales Tax and Fee Collection, and one in Voter Registration and Chapter 19 Funds training.

Elective courses required can also include Fundamentals of the American With Disabilities Act (ADA) and Manufactured Housing and Boat and Motor Titling.

"And every time the Texas Legislature meets, there's always some change in tax laws that you have to take into account," said Chief Deputy Gonzalez. "You've got to keep up with the changing tax law, and we're making sure our staff is up to date for us to comply."

Garcia said that in his years of service in the U.S. Air Force, his decades as a police officer with the Brownsville Police Department, serving as an elected member of the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, and his service on many community and non-profit boards, he has learned that an inclusive culture plays a major role to achieve the goals of any organization.

"Youi have to make your staff feel that they are an important part of the overall effort of this office," he said. "It is important for everyone to have the education that they need because they are the ones who are making the contact with the public on the ground. We are making sure they have the necessary education to make that contact effective." 

As a testament to this cornerstone of the Garcia tax office policy, a wall inside the main office is adorned with top supervisory employees from throughout the county.

Even though both Garcia and Chief Deputy Gonzalez have passed their PCC certification courses, state law requires them to have been in office for at least two years before they are granted their certification. Staff members who have been there two years have already acquired it, but they must wait another six months to receive theirs.

"We are sharing the education with our staff as well," she said, crediting Pct. 2 county commissioner Joey Lopez for pushing through the request for training funds for the tax office personnel. To lower  travel costs, she said that instructors were invited to travel to Cameron County instead of spending county funds to send staff members upstate.

"Joey supported our requests and made the motion for the commission to approve the training and travel funds. They have been very supportive as far as they can. We want all our staff to have the PCC certification just like us."

For Gonzalez, it has also been rewarding that she is the first female certified chief deputy in Cameron County. A previous one served a short time before leaving the tax office for Joe Rivera's county clerk's office. She is also the first female chief deputy to gain certification from the state since the first county tax assessor-collector James G. Browne in the 1870s, until the administration of Tony Yzaguirre. 

She is not done yet, she said. She is also vying for certification as a Professional Deputy Assessor Collector (PDAC) issued by the Tax Assessor-Collectors Association of Texas. In order to be awarded the title of  PDAC, the member must have previously earned the designations of Professional County Collector and County Tax Professional with advanced courses in Leadership, Security, Team Building, and Texas Law Making.

"We've been here only 18 months," Gonzalez said. "But we are making sure to uplift our certifications and those of our staff, our team."

LAS CAZUELITAS – ONE OF THE OLDEST FAMILY-OWNED CAFES IN TOWN – IN A GESTURE OF GRATITUDE TO ITS LOYAL CUSTOMERS OF 45 YEARS, IS FEEDING KIDS FOR FREE

By Juan Montoya

For the past 45 years, a family-owned business in the heart of downtown Brownsville has thrived in good times, weathered bad times, emerged from the COVID pandemic, and navigated the turbulent ups and downs of a border economy.

Throughout it all, its loyal customer base has supported it and allowed it to grow from the original restaurant located at the corner of Adams and 12th streets (952 Adams, across 10th Street from the central Fire Station) and add two more locations, one on 220 Palm Blvd., and another at 1453 E Jefferson St., directly across from the city bus station.

And those customers – like the generations before them – vow that its caldo de res is the best in the city and its traditional Tex-Mex border cuisine second to none.

Now, as a gesture of gratitude for its loyal following, brothers Robert and Thomas and their spouses are offering a summer special of free meals for kids under eight for every meal bought by an adult at regular price.

"It is a summer special that is offered to our customers every Tuesday and Thursday," said a waitress at the Adams location. "We know the kids are on vacation from school and we want to show our appreciation to our customers for choosing to eat with us throughout all these years."

The story of Las Cazuelitas is a model of free enterprise in Brownsville. It is not the recipient of downtown development grant monies or government handouts, old money, or a sudden cash windfall. Instead, it is a story of personal investment and risk, hard work, perseverance, and an appreciation for its employees and its customer base.

The restaurant has been in the same family since 1981, when Gregoria (Goyita) Ferrera Thibodeaux, whose photo graces the wall in all three restaurants, started it with her husband Terry, a Louisiana native from Houma, La., who just happened to be an excellent Cajun cook. The couple bought the cafe from Rene Cardenas, who sold it to them when he retired.

The purchase was itself a response to bad times; the decline of the shrimping industry where Terry, the captain of a shrimp boat, sought a way to support his family.

But it was Goyita's caldo de res recipe that attracted the customers to Las Cazuelitas since the restaurant's inception and has kept them there. Word of the caldo has now spread far and wide, with fans in social media giving it high praises.

"The caldo lives up to its fame," wrote one diner from Ft. Worth. "And the prices are very reasonable."

The recipe for its success after all those years is simple: Good food. Good service. Reasonable prices.

After 30 years, Goyita wanted to retire and handed over the business to Robert, one of her sons who had worked in the restaurant as a dish washer when he was attending Texas Southmost College. Robert returned with his wife Lisa to take over the day-to-day operations when she died in in 2010. 

Unfortunately, she passed away before she had written down her recipe, and Robert had to learn it from the cooks who had worked under his mother. His wife Lisa now trains new cooks to remain faithful to the original recipe. Brother Thomas does the shopping to supply all three restaurants and wife Jacqueline, a teacher, helps with the menus and correspondence.

The restaurants have provided a source of employment to hundred of employees over the years and allowed them to raise their families. Their employment allows them to support their families, patronize local car dealerships and businesses, buy their homes, pay their rent and contribute to the local economy. 

To this day, Robert recognizes many of his mother's frequent customers who still come to dine at the restaurant she started. Now, second and third generations have become customers.

On a cold day, the caldo is ready by 11 a.m. and gone by noon if you don't hurry.

"The free children's meal summer special is our way of thanking our customers for supporting Goyita's dream," said the waitress at the Adams Street location. "We thank them for their support."